


The teachings of the trickster.

by Dandelion_queen



Category: Lokean, Loki - Fandom, Marvel Cinematic Universe, Norse Mythology, Norse Religion & Lore, Tom Hiddleston - Fandom
Genre: Alternate Universe - Medieval, Angrboda, Angry Sex, Angst, Explicit Sexual Content, F/M, Falling In Love, Fenrir - Freeform, Hel - Freeform, Hela - Freeform, Jealousy, Jormun, Lokean - Freeform, Loki Redemption, Loki's Children - Freeform, Loptr - Freeform, Love/Hate, Lovers, Magic, Marvel Norse Lore, Moral Lessons, Myth Loki, Mythical Beings & Creatures, Odin - Freeform, Pagan Gods, Passionate Sex, Ragnarok, Rebellion, References to Norse Religion & Lore, Shameless Smut, Sibling Rivalry, Smut, Survival, The Breaker of worlds, The Nine Realms, Thor - Freeform, Violence, lessons in love, life journey, shape shifting, skytreader, unexpected deaths
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-07-16
Updated: 2016-03-10
Packaged: 2018-04-09 17:11:03
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 18
Words: 38,393
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4357502
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dandelion_queen/pseuds/Dandelion_queen
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Maera finds herself filled with jealousy as her younger sister prepares to marry Maera's childhood sweetheart Tobin. Enter one flame haired skytreader who offers to help her out...but what does the God of mischief truly desire?<br/>It's a love story of sorts but there's many a lesson Maera learns under Loki's tutelage, he changes her whole world but will it be for the better?  </p><p>(Picture this Loki as Prince Hal but with long red hair..I do.)</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. One

Maera brushed out the final curl in her sister's hair and placed the brush down. She applied a small splash of the softening oil that would make her her sister's hair gleam and kept her wicked thoughts to herself.  
She was jealous, she burned with it. Seeing her sister Isadora fall so blissfully in love with her friend Tobin and then for him to ask for her hand had been a blow.  
After all hadn't she loved him before Isadora even noticed the fine young man he was?

"Thank you Maera, Tobin does so love my hair." Isadora flipped the long wavy tresses over her shoulder and slipped into their pallet bed.  
"Indeed you have been blessed with a fine head of hair." Maera said sweetly all the while a mental image of taking a shearing blade to said tresses leaving Isadora bald played out in her mind. She smiled wider to herself and sat down on the foot of the bed.  
"Are you turning in?" Isadora asked.  
"Nay, I need to fetch water to freshen up." she lied.  
"Well be quiet when you return." Isadora had always been a light sleeper and the briefest of noises woke her, usually Maera's fidgeting would disturb her slumber.  
Maera slipped out with her water jug to walk to the stream.

She seethed.  
Squatting down by the steam she filled her jug, the moon shone full reflecting in the water. She cast her mind back to that summers night when Tobin had kissed her, he'd made her a fine beaded necklace and swore he would always be hers.  
Then Isadora blossomed, her younger sister grew tall and beautiful, her delicate features gave her an otherworldly beauty while Maera stayed short, her limbs sturdy, her hair unremarkable. Their mother would bleat about Isadora's fine looks while she would sew her dresses. Maera noticed more care and detail went into Isadora's garments while her clothes appeared plainer.

It wasn't long before Tobin began casting his longing looks at Isadora. The more Maera tried to keep his affection the more he seemed to put his walls up. No longer did they share their jokes and teasing.  
"Isadora is the most beautiful maiden in the nine realms." Tobin sighed.  
Maera knew she'd lost him but she still clung to the idea he'd become bored of Isadora eventually and then she could fully regain his attention and love.  
That day didn't come.  
Now they would soon be married and Maera would have to cope and hope one day her heart would stop telling her to love him.

"I hate you! I hate you!" she muttered to herself. The village was quiet, a few of the hounds howled in the distance but otherwise it was safe to say she wouldn't be disturbed.  
"I never get what I want." she kicked the jug over. The young woman wept and begged the moonlit sky to help, for any higher power to help her. She was desperate.

"Crying won't make a blind bit of difference."  
Maera stilled in fright at the sound of the voice that came out of nowhere. She looked at the brown booted feet stood before her and shyly glanced upwards.  
She didn't recognise the young man but what she did notice was just how much his eyes twinkled with merriment, his long red hair was decorated with silver beads and leather wraps. His smile put Maera to mind of a fox, sharp toothed and sly.  
"Who are you?" she knelt before him feeling small.  
"I am whoever you want me to be." the stranger held his hand out to help her up.  
She took his hand and felt herself pulled up with ease, the stranger didn't drop her hand instead he gave it a gentle squeeze.  
Up close she noticed the small indentations across his lips, they formed a pattern as though his thin mischievous lips had been sewn shut, she fought the urge to press a kiss to each one....and then it hit her.  
"Loki."  
He released her hand and bowed.  
"At your service."


	2. Two

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> And so Loki begins his teachings.

Maera felt herself drawing to a faint under his watchful eyes and stumbled backwards.  
"If you are thinking yourself fast then I am much faster my dear mortal child..go on! Run! See how far you get before I am upon you." he spoke with a soft lilt to his voice that added more menace to his words.  
"I would not run." Maera lied.  
"Nay? You would but your body is refusing to obey what your mind tells you and so you find yourself rooted to the spot..and so the fox circles the rabbit." he grinned darkly.  
"I am scared of no man." Maera said with as much courage a she could muster.  
"Then you are a greater fool then I would've thought and you are not in the presence of a man but that of a God, you'd do well to remember as such." his smile left his face.  
"What do you want of me?" Maera asked, her mouth suddenly dry. It felt like all her senses were magnified as she stood near the tall figure.  
"It is more a case of what do you want from me, please do not insist you wish for naught. I was drawn to your embarrassing love sick mewling." he didn't smile yet his eyes hinted at a well hidden amusement.  
"I do not mewl!" Maera snapped.  
Loki's laughter burst forth and startled her.  
"You would not run, you are scared of no man and you do not mewl..you are delightful! A foolish mortal is more sport than a gifted one, yet I can safely say you are all beneath one such as myself." Loki looked wild when he laughed.  
"Charming." Maera tutted.

"What do you truly desire most?" Loki sat himself down beside Maera at the edge of the stream and waited even though he knew what was to come.  
"Tobin. I wish to have him fall madly in love with me and..and I wish to be beautiful! More beautiful than my sister Isadora. In truth I would be the most beautiful woman in the nine." Maera looked at her tightly clasped hands, it was better then looking at Loki's mocking smile.  
"Simple desires for a simple maid. Would you truly ask that of me?" Loki sighed.  
"I would." Maera replied.  
"Of all the things I could grant for you, of all the places I could take you, of all the knowledge I could give you...you just wish to be the wife of a mortal man and to simply live here? Truly?" Loki could feel the pure truth of her want and knew she would insist it was so.  
"I want nothing else." she murmured.  
"What if I gave you the beauty you so crave? You would never rest for suitors even if your Tobin took you for his wife. I myself know the burden of beauty, it brings about a possessive cruelty in others. Would your Tobin be fair about that? Men are jealous creatures as are gods.." Loki ran a finger over his upper lip as though lost in thought.  
"I think he would." Maera answered.  
Loki shook his head as though he thought her pitiful.  
"He would not little maid...answer me this then, if you marry him what do you do if the man is a wastrel? Too fond of his cups? Too fond of the lure of fresher maids? Men oft change once their courting days are done. You would be unhappy and trapped."  
Maera knew enough to know that Loki was the god of lies, she got to her feet.  
"He would be a kind man to me." She wiped her muddy hands on her dress and cursed at streaks there, Loki sniggered.

"I will grant you your hearts desires but first I expect you to sample a piece of all which you claim you have no desire for. If at the end of our lessons you still want your Tobin and your beauty then I give you my word and you shall have him and your looks will be talked about all over the puddling lands of Midgard." Loki lay back on the ground and pursed his lips.  
Maera couldn't contain her excitement and clapped her hands together with a little squeak of joy.  
"If however it strikes you that you no longer find the idea of being tethered to an unremarkable mortal while living in a shit sty of a village...then that is where I once again come in." Loki leaned up on his elbow and took out an apple, he carefully cut it in half with a small blade and handed Maera a half.  
"Eat." he ordered her.  
She took the apple slice and bit, Loki never took his eyes off her as she ate it. When she was done Loki took his share of the apple and wrapped it in a cloth. He placed it carefully back in his pouch, a look of mischief played on his face.

He walked her back to her family's dwelling.  
"When will we begin?" Maera asked.  
"We already have." Loki withdrew his apple knife and grabbed her plait. He cut the braid off and tucked it down his breeches.  
"Oh! You!" Maera panicked and grabbed for the knife but he held it aloft. Her little jump only caused him to laugh.  
"My hair..why?!" she felt the tears sting her eyes. She would look awful come the morn and how would she explain it?  
"Kiss me." he pulled her into a strong embrace with his free arm, the other held the knife out of her reach.  
"I will not kiss you, you beastly.." Maera was silenced as Loki brought his lips to her own.

It was like no kiss she'd ever shared with Tobin. Loki left her stood in a daze with heat pooling in her belly.  
"Go to bed child."  
When she went to protest about her hair she found he'd disappeared. With a heavy heart she did as Loki said, she dreaded the thought of explaining what had happened with her hair. Maera knew she'd have to lie about it, Isadora would no doubt find it greatly amusing.  
She slipped in to bed.  
"What have I done?" she whispered to herself.

Dawn broke with the sound of the cockerel and Maera hid under the wool blankets as Isadora rose. She waited till she knew her sister was out of the way and went to dress hurriedly. The first thing that struck her was her hair...it was back. Only this hair was longer, thicker and seemed to tumble like Isadora's. Thankfully it was her own colour so no one would notice too much. Maera quickly braided her new hair and pulled on a fresh dress.  
"Loki?" she paused and looked about the room. Nothing happened.  
"Thank you."  
She didn't notice the spider in the corner for why would she?


	3. Three

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Maera wakes up to a whole new appearance and finds her sister is less than pleased about it. Loki once again steps in and then steals her away. Chapter 3 and here is the smut. ;)  
> My summaries are terrible.

Maera knew something was different with the way her Mother looked at her, placing a hand on her chest she took a step backwards, sucking in a lungful of air. Normally very careful and prideful of her possessions her Mother didn't seem to notice when the clay bowls she knocked off her table fell to the ground and cracked apart.  
"Maera!" she lost the colour to her usually ruddy cheeks.  
"Mother." Maera grabbed at her mother and eased her down into the wooden chair.  
"Your face...child.." her mother ran her hand over Maera's jawline.  
Fearing the worst Maera ran to retrieve the hand mirror of Isadora's from under the pallet bed.

She kept her eyes tightly shut. What could Loki have done? It had to be his doing whatever it was. Maera forced herself to look.  
The mirror dropped out of her hand...she let out a scream of joy.  
Her face had altered, not enough that you couldn't tell it was Maera but enough that you noticed she was an attractive woman. The plainest of her features had somehow took on a more beguiling shift. She scrabbled for the mirror to look herself over again.  
Maera found nose wasn't as sharp, her eyelashes appeared dark and plentiful framing eyes which now seemed to have more pronounced flecks of colour in them, in different lights they took on different hues. Her skin looked fresher, more even toned and lacking any blemishes. What really pleased her most of all was her teeth, they now gleamed white and straight, before her top teeth had been crooked. As for her hair...well it went without saying that it was a glorious head of hair.

In the corner Loki watched her girlish glee with amusement. If she only knew what Idunn's apples could really do. She was halfway to being goddess now at least among her mortal peers. Idunn still resides in his well hidden bag, a little seed who would no doubt tell Odin lies about Loki. He didn't care to give it too much thought. He might not even set foot back on Asgard now he had a new plaything to occupy his time.  
She was attractive there was no denying that but Loki had never cared much for looks, there was more fun to be had in seeing what made them tick then deciding if they were worth seducing. Most of them were not but he still went ahead and did so anyway.  
Few things made him more content then a full belly and a wet dick. Loki at least told no lies about that...

He shook off his spider form and clapped a hand on Maera's shoulder making her gasp with shock and drop the mirror. This time a crack splintered the surface and she cursed aloud. Loki chuckled at her crestfallen expression.  
"You should not be here trickster...my mother is.." she began.  
Loki placed a long finger up against his scarred lips and winked. Maera fell silent.  
"She cannot see or hear me." Loki assured her.  
As if on cue her mother walked in followed by Isadora, they both seemed oblivious of Loki.  
"Maera?" Isadora sounded breathless as she took in her sisters new appearance. Loki could feel how her jealousy burned bright at what she saw.  
"What happened to you?" Isadora drew closer to inspect Maera's features.  
"Nothing." Maera shrugged.  
"You're lying..Mother she is lying!" Isadora growled.  
Loki laughed as they all began to argue with each other, it soon descended into violence as Isadora raked at Maera's face with a hiss. He'd seen enough, with a click of his fingers Isadora and her mother froze. 

Loki helped Maera up and smoothed his finger over her fresh scratches, they healed right away. She looked terrified of what had just happened.  
"The gift of beauty my little mortal." he pressed a kiss to her forehead.  
"Why did she attack me?" Maera asked sadly.  
"Your sister attacked you because you are beautiful." He explained. "You'll find that will happen a lot from now on..."  
Maera didn't like the sound of that at all.

"Well we better take our leave. Gather up some of that bread your Mother baked and some cheese." Loki felt his stomach growl at the thought of food but he'd wait till later.  
"What? We are to leave? But my Mother and Isadora are frozen and..and what will happen where will we go?" Maera panicked.  
"Once we take our leave they will resume their day to day life all the while never once remembering you. I've erased all traces of you from everyone in this shit stys mind. You cease to be." He sounded bored.  
"Why do that?" Maera burst into tears before the unconcerned God.  
"Why not? Do not fret..if you decide to come back here then I promise you'll be restored to their affections as the sack of sadness you are but it is kinder this way. There is much we have to sample and I wish to take my leave so get me the food and we can be on our merry way." Loki took her by the arm and pulled her into the next room.  
"Fill it up." He ordered Maera while holding a sack open.  
She dutifully did as Loki asked, throwing in smoked fish, cheese and all the bread then watched with astonishment as he folded the sack up like a piece of parchment and tucked it in his small bag.  
"Stop catching flies Maera, you'd better get used to my magic." Loki laughed at her slack jawed expression. "Come, we will take our leave."  
And so they did...

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

They walked to the forest, not a long walk by any means yet one that tired out Maera after all she'd been through. Her body had been through a powerful change as she had slept and now it seemed to be easier to exhaust.  
"May we sit a while?" She asked Loki.  
His powerful legs were hard to keep up with, for every one of his strides she'd had to take four.   
Loki gave a nod of agreement. "For a while."  
"Where are we headed anyway?" She asked him.  
"To the caves of my wife Angrboda." he told her.  
Maera shivered, she knew the tales of the giant witch that dwelled high up in the mountains. She didn't want to go.

Loki threw a fur on the ground and laid down, he stretched out like a cat and patted the fur for Maera to join him. Maera felt the strange heat in her belly as he lay there but she shook her head.  
"Better you lie with a God and have him take your maidenhead my little Maera." Loki smiled lasciviously.  
"And why's that?" Maera dared to ask.  
"Trust me when I say that years from now when you are in your marital bed enduring your true loves grunting atop you it will be the memory of my cock and my tongue, the feel of my hands upon you and the whisper of my words in your ear that will bring your hungry quim to it's peak." Loki crowed smugly.  
"That's not true you liar!" Maera spat but already she blushed as she felt herself growing wet just from his words.  
"You want me little mortal, I can feel it. I can already smell your wet quim under your skirts." Loki reached into his bag and pulled out a clay bottle of what Maera took to be mead.  
"I'm only asking for you to part your thighs and let me between them..I must warn you my Angroboda hates the stench of virgin maids, she'll want to cut you up and boil you to feed to Fenrir. At least if she can scent you as tried she'll leave you be." Loki lied.  
Maera quaked in fear at the mention of Fenrir, the wolf was said to be monstrously huge and untameable. Loki had to swallow his laughter at her frightened little face.  
"Well..alright then." she agreed and came to sit down on the fur.

 

Loki offered her a sip of the mead knowing full well it would lower her inhibitions. He did so hate how maids would tense up or wail as he gave them a good rutting. He cared not for that, if they must wail he'd sooner it be his name and in pleasure, finger nails raking his back.  
"Apart from that time you fondled Tobin's length behind the blacksmiths have you ever felt a bare prick?" Loki asked her as he freed his cock from its confines.  
"How do you know about that?" Maera felt her heart beat a little faster, there he was with his big cock out asking her about one of her untold secrets.  
"I'm a God." was all Loki offered by way of explanation.  
"Then no I haven't." Maera replied. In truth it had been less than a minute, she'd only cupped him and gave Tobin one stroke with her hand and then he'd cum all over her skirts with a whimper.  
It wasn't what she'd expected.

"Get your hand around me." Loki grabbed her hand and curled her fingers around his length.  
Maera couldn't bring herself to look at where her hand was.  
"Stroke it." Loki ordered her.   
She gave it a few slow tugs and had him placing his hand back over hers to guide her.  
"Watch." he snapped.  
Shyly Maera allowed herself to look at what she was doing, she could just about get her hand fully around his girth. He was much more to handle than Tobin of that she was certain. Loki drew her hand up and down at a slightly faster pace along his length, he was enjoying her touch more than he'd anticipated.

He'd never cared much for all that nonsense that men spewed about preferring the virginal maids. Odin once told him there were two times in a man's life that he should sample a maid. The first was as a younglin when your skills in seduction were lacking and then again as fully grown man who knew a trick of two. Having done both Loki was of the opinion it was just as rewarding to get anyone's thighs wide and welcoming be they a virgin or not. He knew he'd always had a larger appetite for sexual encounters than most of the Gods. He felt no shame about that but more a strange pride. Everyone in the nine realms knew Loki was the best fuck they'd likely ever have.

Maera grew a little more confident of her movements and Loki removed his hand away letting her play with him. Her other hand palmed his balls, gently rolling them in their sack, she lifted them and gave an appreciative sigh at the weight of them in her hand.  
"I've never felt these before." she said quietly.  
"Balls? Yes, mine are bigger..heavier than you'll normally encounter." Loki grew a little stiffer at her exploring of his sack.   
She was pink of cheek, her pupils dilated as she touched him, he knew she'd be soaked by now. Maids got so worked up by the briefest moments of desire, all that repressed lust..it usually bubbled to the surface of their heated skin when a decent opportunity arose.  
"Come..lay back for me." Loki said while drawing her down to meet his lips.  
Maera fell back without complaint, her hands now in his fiery locks as he bunched her skirts up. He rubbed his prick along her quim, letting the smooth head rub against her petal soft folds, finding her most sensitive flesh he took his fingers and teased her there.  
Applying a gentle pressure he spread her wetness over her clit in slow insistent circles, Maera cried out against Loki's lips. He reclaimed her kiss-bruised lips and his tongue found hers. 

Maera felt alive. It was as though she'd been searching for this moment, nothing before seemed to top the sensations she was feeling laid here on the ground with the flame haired trickster. Loki pulled at her dress laces and groaned as the soft, ripe swell of her tits were bared to his eyes. He freed them fully then captured one hardened nipple in his mouth, he suckled hard eliciting a lustful keen from Maera. He couldn't stop the grin on his lips as he then took his lips across to her other puckered little teat and repeated his assault.

"Oh..oh gods!" Maera bucked her hips against Loki and he took the invitation to sheath himself inside her sweet warmth. He slid in almost to the hilt so wet was she for him, a quick snap of his hips enabled him to make that last push and claim her fully.  
Maera gave his hair a startled yank as he was quite the length to take for any woman let alone a virgin.  
He'd made it almost effortless with how he'd breached her but now she was tense and so Loki waited till she would relax.  
"Worst of it is done little maid." he breathed against her ear.  
He was careful. He'd done his share of breaking in but for today at least he found the gentle touch worked more to his advantage.  
Loki began working his hips in the age old rhythm, a dance that will remain the same no matter how many gods and empires should rise and fall. 

Maera began to move in time with him. Clinging tightly to Loki she edged towards her glorious moment of release under his thrusts. He changed his movements to grind against her, Maera found herself seized by pleasure and came, her thighs slack as she lost herself to the wave of ecstasy.   
Loki fucked her through it, now she had reached her end he sought to please himself and so he begun to work himself slower. He'd always the loved the wet pull of a well fucked quim. Loki dipped in shallow then deep before he groaned in satisfaction and spilled his seed deeply inside her.   
One thing he did know is this one would be a lay he'd relish training up, she'd had him caught good and proper when he'd got inside her. 

He'd gave Maera a moment to sink back down to reality after what had just passed between them both.  
"Mm. You were good." he nuzzled into her cheek.  
"As were you but then you've had a lot of practice." she grinned.  
Well Loki hadn't expected that reply. Normally they sang his praises or clung to him while declaring their love.  
He took his hand down between her thighs and brought it back up wet with the pinkish tinge of blood in her wetness.  
Maera watched as he licked his fingers clean, he looked wild.   
If she'd have had any sense she would've bolted and ran as far as her legs would carry her....


	4. Four

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Loki heads home for a night and then he's back to his usual tricks.

"What's your wife like Loki?" Maera asked.  
They stood at the foot of the hills while Loki contemplated taking the walk up or taking flight with a shift to his bird wings.  
"She is fearsome." Loki replied with a shrug. He knew she itched to press for more information but she was hesitant.  
"Fair hearted, brave and yet prone to rages. Usually because of me she would have you believe but I can hardly be blamed for the actions of others." an expression of what Maera took to be cunning flashed on his face for the briefest of moments and then he was back to his old self.  
"I would think being tied to you would have problems for any woman." Maera mumbled. She ached between her legs and not in the good way.  
"Look's like you're learning as we go." Loki gave her a wolfish smile and then tapped her forehead. She lost consciousness.

Loki turned her into a seed and placed her in the leather pouch with Idunn. He stuffed the small pouch into his bag and set off on foot. He looked forward to seeing his wife Angrboda and his children but he knew better than to show up stinking of sex with a young maid in tow. Angrboda would fight him of that he was certain, she gave as good as any man in combat. Afterwards he would fuck her and tell her she was his only love.  
That was a truth of sorts..he did love her. He loved their children and he wouldn't deny them no matter how much Odin pushed him to do so.  
His Angrboda, tall and blessed with skin the colour of natural amethyst, her hair blue-black and her lips the richest purple. He had missed her...  
Not wanting to waste time he took fight.

"Look at what returns." was his wife's withering response. She cast him a dark look and continued to grind her herbs.  
"Such a sweet welcome." Loki chuckled. He was quick to notice the crib near the fireside. A little cry started up that piqued his curiosity further.  
"She's yours before you ask." Angrboda sighed.  
"A daughter?" Loki felt his heart swell at the news. He reached down for the bundle and drew the wriggling babe in his arms. What he saw had him at a loss for words. One side of her face was the colour of amethyst and the other the colour of his pale freckled skin. A perfect symmetry of differing tones, one her mother and the other him. He fell in love with her as any father does with their child be they blood or not.  
"She is perfect...beautiful." Loki held her against him and took in her sweet milkish smell. He hadn't expected this.

"Father!"  
Loki felt his grin go wider as his sons rushed in and bumped at his legs. Jormun and Feni looked unlike any children in the nine. A product of drunken sex and blood magic they each shifted into the forms they were born. Feni looked like a curly haired Loki when he wasn't prowling the lands as a towering wolf and Jormun favoured Angrboda in his looks till he would dive into the sea and grow so large that he would sink ships with a flick of his tongue.  
"Have you both been good?" Loki asked them.  
"Yes." they lied in unison.  
Even Angrboda cracked a smile at that.

 

Loki wrestled his boys and told them tales of his latest adventures. Every so often he'd pull a treat he'd collected for them from his bag of tricks. They fell asleep nestled on his lap while Angrboda cooked a lamb for Loki.  
"Put them to bed and be with me." she said.  
And so Loki did.

 

"Have you missed me my love?" Loki whispered to Angrboda in the darkness of the cave. He'd took his time with her. Loved her completely till he felt her soften and curl up in his arms. Each time they'd come together after a long period apart there had been blood, there had been passion. He found it strange that she hadn't lunged for him or beat him about the face.  
"Aye." a soft hiccup accompanied the broken tone of her voice. His wife was crying.  
"Please stay this time. Let our daughter get to know you, I grow too weary of this Loki." she pleaded.  
"I cannot as well you know. My nature is to wander and I have many duties." Loki trailed his fingers down her back.  
"I will cut out your heart if you try to leave." Angroboda vowed.  
"You need not for my heart belongs to you only my love...always." Loki took her hand and entwined their fingers. 

"My silvertongue..when the sun comes up you will be gone." she already knew.  
"Know this, wherever I go it is thoughts of you and the children you have given me that get me through the worst of it." Loki didn't lie about that.  
"And when you lie with others do you think of me then?" She asked.  
"How else would I reach my peak if not for picturing your pretty face?" he lied.  
She at least laughed at that particular lie.  
When dawn broke Angrboda found herself alone in her bed.  
She never heard his whispered "I love you." as he'd left her asleep. Nor did she see the kisses he'd pressed to the heads of his sleeping children.  
She got up and pretended yesterday hadn't happened.

 

On some dirt path far away Loki ate a cut of cheese and a loaf. He'd been sad to leave but he could never shake the feeling of bringing trouble to their home if he stayed. Better he be away and let the chaos follow him then for it to land at the door of his wife and children. He remembered his little midgardian friend and decided to bring her back to keep him company. He shook the seeds in his palm and looked them over, he didn't know who was who. Idunn and Maera slept oblivious of what had happened to them both. Luck was on his side as the shape of Maera took form from the first seed he used his powers on.  
"Welcome back." Loki grinned.  
Maera rubbed her eyes. "Did I fall asleep?"  
"You did. I had to carry you to my wife's and then back down here. You never broke from your slumber." Loki lied.  
"Oh..you must think me rude." Maera felt like she'd slighted him.  
"Not at all." he helped her up.  
They both walked on till the silouhette of citadel across the barren lands caught their eye.

"Have you ever stolen anything Maera?" Loki asked her as they entered the gates of the heavily guarded citadel. Loki knew she hadn't. He knew that she'd once contemplated it when her sister left her decorative silver hair pins out but she'd reasoned to herself that she wouldn't get to wear them anyway and placed them back down.  
"I haven't." Maera said truthfully.  
"Would you like too?" Loki grinned at her.  
"Errr..." she paused.  
"That sounds like a yes to me." he broke into his gentle laugh and wrapped his arms around her. To any of the citizens walking by they looked like any other young couple.  
"Anything you see that takes your eye..I want you to take it. I'll be there for you should it turn ugly." he whispered.  
"I'll be flogged or worse if I get caught." she panicked.  
"That will not happen I assure you." Loki let her out of the embrace and pushed her a little.  
When she turned to speak to him he'd once again disappeared.

 

Maera wondered through the crowded market and edged closer to the stalls. She got very tempted to snatch at the coloured silks a couple of times but her nerve left her when she touched the items. All around her the market bustled, sellers called out for you to look at their wares and children ran around weaving under tables causing angry shouts. Having grown up in a village it was already too much for her to take in. Maera made her way through the people and felt herself get steadily more annoyed at every bump or tread on her toes as people walked by. 

Eventually she just stood out of the way. High up on the citadel wall Loki pecked at the other ravens and watched with disappointment as Maera became overwhelmed and shied away. He had to take matters into his own hands. He wove a powerful spell that had him control the other birds, they followed him down to the market and with a quick hold of time he transformed them to men. For the next part he swept off a table of the sellers wares and opened up his bag, he swiftly placed down lots of trinkets he knew would appeal to Maera. He used a simple glamour spell to change his appearance to that of an old woman and sent the birdmen to dot about. All of this took less than the blink of an eye for Loki, so skilled was he in the practices of magic. Not one person had noticed a single thing and the seller remained sat with a glazed over expression. All Loki had to do was wait...

Maera looked about as though she hoped to see her trickster companion lurking about but she saw none like he. His red hair and tall build would mark him out among the squat and solid built men of the citadel. She stood on her tiptoes and still saw nothing, so she started make her way back into the throng. A cart clipped her and she darted away straight into the path of Loki's stall.  
"A pin for a pretty maid?' Loki held up a jewelled hair pin and watched as Maera's eye glazed over taking in the emerald stone.  
"It's very beautiful." Maera said, already her heart hammered in her chest as she planned on snatching it from the crones hand.  
Maera made a show of reaching into her skirts as though she had a purse but as quick as a flash she plucked the pin out of the old woman's hand and sprinted away with her prize. Loki called for his birdmen and set off after her.

Maera didn't look behind her but she sensed she was being followed.  
"Loki!" she called out but he didn't answer. She slipped down a back street avoiding the women emptying their slop buckets and the drunks in their doorways.  
"There she is!" Maera heard the voice of the old woman nearby and ducked down.  
"Out you come.." a male voice made her shriek, she struggled as she was hoisted up in the arms of a raven haired man.  
Maera was whirled around to face the old woman and the group of men behind her.  
"Take her hand!" the crone hissed and Maera was dragged over to a table and found her arm being stretched along it.  
Maera screeched, she pulled and kicked out at the men who crowded the table.  
"No! No! Please..I have it. Take it back, it's in my pockets." Maera stammered desperately. The old woman cackled as she handed one of the men a knife.  
Maera wouldn't let this happen. "Loki!! Save me!"  
Still nothing stirred to suggest Loki would aid her rescue.  
"Get off me! Get your filthy hands off me now..you gutter scum!" Maera screamed and twisted out of their hold. Her strength took her by surprise but she supposed anyone would find that fire when threatened with the loss of a limb.  
Loki watched her show of inhuman strength with amusement, clearly the apple of Idunn had taken hold.  
Maera took the pin and threw it at him.  
"Take it." she growled.  
Loki shimmered back into his skin and the men shrank away then took flight.  
Maera wet herself.

He'd expected her to be upset but to faint and piss herself? Her scooped her up and took her into the first house he happened on and left her to sleep it off.  
She was a sheltered little girl who played at being a woman. He pondered on just leaving her and making his way along his paths of magic but come dusk his feet took him back to the house along the alley and up to where Maera lay.  
She was burning up in her sleep, too much excitement for one mortal he thought.  
The young woman who lived there had undressed Maera and cleaned her up. He paid her handsomely for her trouble. The young woman went to bring more water for Maera and Loki stole his chance, not wanting to shrink her back to seed form Loki took his bird wings and clasped her in his arms. He took flight from the window with Maera cradled in his arms and heard the various frightened screams of "Sky demon!" as he flew higher and higher out of their view.

Loki soon found he'd used up the majority of his magic for the day. Too much shape shifting and time holding can take its toll on a god. He swept down to the ground and decided to bed down for the night. Exhausted as he was he wrapped Maera up in his fur and managed to get her to gulp a few mouthfuls of water down. They both slept and Loki only woke when the heat of the sun blared down on them both.  
He still had her pressed against his chest, her arms wrapped tightly around him. She stirred still bleary eyed and confused. Loki stroked her back gently, maybe his soothing touch would ease her worries. She gave a little sleepy moan and snuggled more firmly against him. He didn't feel like doing much today after yesterday's exploits.  
Loki felt the shift of her hips and smirked. He loved how she had yet to realise what power she now possessed. He would teach her as well as he could.

 

Loki boldly took his hands under the fur and cupped the curves of her backside, he kneaded the soft skin and felt himself swell at full staff instantly.  
"Am I forgiven?" he asked.  
"No." Maera mumbled.  
"Come now...you agreed to this." Loki asserted.  
Maera pushed up off his chest and rolled off him. Loki sniggered at her little act of resistance.  
"I wish I hadn't!" Maera shouted at him.  
"And yet we made a bargain. You asked me for beauty and I gave you that." Loki swept his hand as though to remind her. "I promised you that village boy too if after all I show you isn't enough but know this..if you really think to cut short our lessons then your life will be a wretched thing for the rest of your days." Loki smiled pleasantly as he departed this information.  
"I hate you! You're cruel and unfair..and a liar." Maera stamped her foot hard on the ground.  
"Think you to offend me?" Loki chuckled and clutched his chest in mock sadness.  
Maera started to walk away from him but realised she had no idea of where she actually was.  
"I am the god of mischief my dear!" Loki called out.  
Maera gave in and walked back towards him. What other choice did she have?

"Come." Loki stretched out on the ground languorously as though he meant to taunt her.  
"I am not going to..to..RUT with you here if that's what you think." Maera flushed scarlet from the words she spoke, they only made Loki roar with laughter.  
"Yet as I seem to recall it was not an issue the other day." he pursed his lips and waited for her to strike him.  
The blow never came.  
Maera slumped down dejectedly and faced away from him.  
"Ah the silent treatment? Very well." Loki tutted and rolled over, he dozed off again leaving Maera to sulk on her lonesome.

"Loki! Wake up!" Maera shook him from his slumber and he jumped to his feet with his hunting knife at the ready. Maera cowered at his feet, he felt her arm wrap around his thigh. At least thirty men, some on horseback surrounded them both, a few had their swords drawn.  
"It is the one they call silvertongue!" one of the men shouted.  
"Aye..the wench called him Loki." Another chimed in.  
"Gentlemen?" Loki asked evenly. He didn't feel threatened in the slightest, he knew he could kill them all and not even break a sweat.  
"Our Queen requests your presence." a rather decorated looking older man stepped forward. "She sent us to locate you after word spread of the sky demon yesterday. She knew it was you." he bowed and stepped back.  
"Ah she remembers!" Loki chuckled.  
"Yes well..one tends not to forget the time a god steals in through their bedchamber window and takes their maidenhead on the eve of their wedding day." the decorated man set his lips into a line, his disapproval was obvious.  
"Cheer up man..your Queen loved every second of it." Loki basked in their disgusted expressions.  
"Your disrespect will not go unpunished!" a young follower rushed at Loki with his blade aloft.  
In a second the young man crumpled dead at Loki's feet, his blood staining the ground. Maera let out a scream and scurried around the back of Loki's legs.  
"You will all meet the same fate as he if you do not stand down and leave us. Tell your Queen I will come of my own accord when and if I please. Now get out of my sight! A God does not forget such slights..tell her I said so." Loki caused burst of fire to appear from the ground, men were thrown off their horses and the rest ran for their lives.  
Maera shut her eyes tight and covered her ears.

 

She felt the sweep of Loki's fingers across her cheek and opened her eyes. He placed a finger up to her lips with a gentle "Shuuush."  
Maera took in her extravagant surroundings, they no longer stood in the open lands but beneath a marbled ceiling. The entire room was unlike anything Maera had ever seen, glints of gold and intricate carvings adorned the furniture.  
"Stay with me little doe." he whispered. He knew she was close to breaking down, the past two days had shocked her to her core.  
"Did you have to kill him?" Maera sniffed.  
"No I did not have to..however if it wasn't by my hand then it'd be another's. A reckless fool rarely lives a long life." he cupped her face.  
"When will you kill me?" she gripped his wrists.  
"Never.. that I can promise." he kissed the tip of her nose.  
"Then?" Maera gathered her thoughts but the words did not come easy.  
"It is a lesson. You feel more alive now do you not?" Loki asked.  
Maera had to agree, she'd never had as much excitement in her life ever. In the two days with Loki she'd seen and done much.  
"I do." she was unable to stop the smile spreading across her face. Loki liked that...  
"How would you like to be a queen?" Loki drew his hands from her face and took her hands in his, he kissed at her blood speckled hands.  
"Me?" Maera shivered as his tongue licked over her knuckles.  
"You." he turned her hand over and kissed at her palm.  
"I don't think I'd be very good at it." Maera replied honestly.  
"We shall see about that." Loki looked hungrily at her and once again Maera knew she should run but as soon as his lips met hers all thoughts of fleeing diminished with the passion of his kiss.


	5. Five

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Here be smut! The calm before the storm.  
> Loki is up to no good and things might be pretty depraved at the Queens court in the next chapter..whey!

Maera found herself sprawled out on the large bed while Loki kissed her, he'd swooped her up and placed her down amongst the sweet scented sheets. She was powerless to resist him and yet inwardly she wished she could.  
"Oh your lips.."she sighed as he began to trail them along her clavicle.  
The tip of his tongue tasted her skin, the blood and sweat that seasoned it was heady. She tasted of fear and desire to Loki, a pleasing flavour.  
"My lips and tongue are gifted in much my little beauty." Loki laid on his honeyed flattery.  
"Aye, they are weapons." Maera ran her fingers into his long hair.  
Loki did so enjoy her unreserved opinion of his second best assets and he'd be the first to agree with her opinion as well. He tore her dress clean down the middle causing her to still with surprise.  
"You are deadly." her eyes grew hooded as Loki allowed his gaze to roam over her body.  
"And you grow bold.." Loki fell upon her, his passion fully awakened by her words.

"Yet you cannot deny your words have wounded many." she went on as Loki nudged between her thighs.  
"My words have wounded as have my hands. I would have you know these hands.." Loki cupped her breasts and stroked his thumbs over her hardened peaks. The moan Maera gave was shameless and yet she cared not one bit.  
"..ah..these hands have killed and caressed. Just as my tongue has caused pain and pleasure." Loki took one of her nipples into his mouth and drew a rough suck making Maera cry out, he swirled his tongue over her sensitive flesh as though to make a point.  
"That is my way Maera, I give both freely and I tell you no lies with that." his voice was barely a whisper against her skin. The goosebumps rose at his breath on her flesh.  
"Y-you are the God of lies." Maera found her mouth was dry, her tongue felt heavy within her mouth.  
"That is how I am known to your kind, I am more than that." Loki peppered butterfly kisses along her ribcage, Maera found her hips began to move of their own accord as he kissed lower still. With a kiss placed under her navel Loki stilled, he licked the sensitive skin of her belly, it was so very obvious no one had touched her this way.  
"Would you have me tell you more?" he nipped at her skin.  
"Please." Maera managed weakly, her words seemed to be sticking in her dry mouth.  
"All in good time my dear one." Loki took her thighs and pushed them apart with ease.  
He gave a small snort of amusement at her groan of disappointment that turned to heated coyness under his gaze. 

She grew more flushed, unsure of what Loki meant to do to her. All she knew was he could see all she was. He stared at her most intimate parts without a hint of shame in him. It was too much for Maera and she covered her face with her hands as though to hide. Loki loved her little maidenly show, so desperate was she to reclaim a shred of modesty under his roving eyes. He pressed a kiss into her sex and spread it with two long fingers. Maera whimpered in disbelief at where his tongue dipped and lapped.  
It was unlike anything she'd ever felt in her life, she shyly glanced down to see his head firmly between her thighs as he feasted on her tender flesh. Maera reached down and grabbed a lock of his hair, it earned her a growl of approval off Loki. He nuzzled in, his nose rubbing near her pearl as his tongue delved inside her.  
"The sweetest nectar." he purred.  
Taking his skilled assault up to her pearl he suckled at her before sweeping his tongue over the swollen flesh. Maera keened and bucked her hips up against his face, Loki knew she was close but she fought against it.  
Well that wouldn't do...

He took her legs and placed them on his shoulders then continued with his skilled assault on Maera's quim. His cock was painfully hard and throbbed under his tunic. Sensing the first wave of her bliss he slipped two fingers inside her wetness and stroked her sensitive spot within. He'd always been skilled in this and found most women became incredibly aroused, indeed their completion was always more drawn out with this little act. He gave six passes of his fingers, her juices spilled plentiful on his hand. One more swirl of his tongue and press of his fingers was all it took to bring Maera to ecstasy, she screamed his name as each contraction coursed through her body.  
Maera cried and laughed while he drew up to kiss her, still euphoric after her bliss Loki breached her easily, her wetness coating his length.  
He held nothing back and fucked her with animalistic abandon, grabbing at her backside while his teeth bit the skin of her neck. He thought he could hold off, instead Loki found himself cumming with a tumultuous roar.  
'Strange.' he thought while still riding the aftershocks out.

Maera was dizzied, dazed and beyond sated. This man..this God was the most dangerous being in all the nine realms and yet to look at him laid with his head on her breasts he looked to be nothing more than an extremely attractive young fellow.  
"I never knew it could be as such between a man and maid." she murmured.  
"Ha! Normally it is never so between a man and a maid..a god however." he licked at her nipple like a snake.  
"What lesson was that?" Maera asked him.  
"T'was no lesson. T'was a fuck and a mighty good one." Loki sniggered.  
"Oh." Maera seemed puzzled.  
"Tomorrow we begin our life lessons if you will but now? I am in the company of a gorgeous maid and I am wearied. All I am fit for is sleep." he lied.  
He reached for his bag of tricks and pulled out a leather bottle of mead.  
"Drink." he ordered Maera. 

She was greatly thirsty and took a few hearty gulps of the mead down offering it to Loki.  
He shook his head then brushed his lips at each of her nipples, he whispered words Maera didn't understand. Her breasts tingled and ached, to her mind they seemed to feel bigger and heavier.  
The first droplet clung to her nipple, she touched her fingertip to it and lifted it to her lips.  
"Mead!" She pinched her other nipple and watched as a light spray of mead was expelled from her body. Loki chuckled at her shocked expression.  
"It's for me." he explained.  
"Why?" Maera asked.  
"Because I'm lazy and if I must drink I would rather suckle it from your teats while you sleep." Loki wrapped his arms around her and kissed at her breasts.  
"Still makes no sense to me..will it harm me?" Maera grumbled.  
"It doesn't have to make sense and no it will not harm you...try and get some sleep dove." Loki watched as her eyelids drooped. He didn't have to wait long, soon Maera slept. He took a long hungry pull at her breast and swallowed with satisfaction.  
"Sleep well my Queen." Loki shrank down to a small green beetle and scuttled out of the room to seek out the true Queen of the barren lands.

 

He watched her with her regal arse up in the air as a young courtier thrusted behind her. Loki observed every sordid act with indifference, soon the Queen dismissed her lover and was tended on by her ladies. Her husband sought out war in lands across the sea that his wife had no interest in. Such is the way of men.  
He waited till her candles were snuffed out and she was close to sleeping and then he struck, the Queen felt a tap at her forehead and opened her eyes ready to give whoever dared to do such a thing a thorough tongue lashing.  
She cowered away at the sight before her, Loki was at his normal height yet remained in his beetle form.  
The Queen found herself growing smaller at an alarming rate before the monstrous creature, shock robbed her of her ability to call out. When she was the size of a grape Loki shimmered into his true form and grinned at the minuscule Queen.  
"Whoreson!" she squeaked before Loki's magic turned her into a seed.  
He placed her in the pouch with Idunn then headed back to the room where Maera slept. Tomorrow would bring great changes.


	6. Six

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Loki carefully plants Maera on the throne, she struggles to rule yet finds her confidence has grown thanks to being thrown in at the deep end. Loki's court is a place where sex acts and tying your balls to a goat are considered the norm. ;)

"Up you get!" Maera was hauled out of bed and wobbled on her relaxed legs. The cool morning air caused goosebumps to rise on her skin. Loki tapped her cheeks making her slap at his hands.  
"Get off me." she grumbled sleepily. She didn't recognise the room at a glance.  
"Listen here, any minute now your servants will burst through the doors and expect to find their Queen in bed, I must work my magic quickly." Loki explained, without waiting he pressed his hands on either side of her face and Maera felt a violent stab of pain, her legs buckled.  
"Perfect." Loki smiled down at his handy work, Maera was truly the Queens form as she lay on the floor gasping for breath.  
"That hurt." she whimpered. Not one to usually care for such complaints Loki gently scooped her up and placed her back into bed.  
"I'm sorry dove, t'was not my intention to hurt you." he soothed, often he forgot how frail mortals could be. Loki placed his hand on hers and drew out her pain, another clever trick of his.  
"Could've fooled me." Maera said, a frown playing over her new regal features.

"I can hear them. Know this, you look like their Queen so behave as such, all bow to your command Maera. Remember that." Loki pressed a kiss to her lips mostly to silence her, mostly because he could sense her fear.  
"Loki! No..I don't.." Maera called at him as he raced to the window and leapt out of sight. Before she could scream in frustration the doors opened and four identically dressed young women stood at the foot of her bed. They waited for their orders after each giving her a pretty curtesy.  
"Good morning." Maera offered weakly. She noticed two of the girls shoulders sag a little as though they'd rather be anywhere else in the nine than here waiting on her.  
"You are all dismissed." she said. They all looked up in shock as though they hadn't heard their Queen right.  
"Your Majesty?" One of them kept her eyes to the floor and approached the side of Maera's bed.  
"Yes?" Maera croaked.

The doors flew open once more and a flounce of lilac skirts with a fluttering fan made the girls drop to a curtesy.  
"Why aren't you dressed? Are these slatterns not doing their duties?" The woman snapped her fan shut revealing a heavily painted up face that was both mesmerising and horrifying to look upon. She was old and clearly a woman of importance to barge into the Queens quarters without a care.  
"Think you to slack? You run a kingdom, your father would despair to see his only living child resting in bed when a throne awaits." The woman lightly swatted the maid stood at the side of the bed with her fan.  
"Pick up your gown hems and go get us some wine and sweet treats." She smiled revealing a row of blackened teeth.  
"Tend to the queen." was another order barked at the remaining three.  
"I do not need tending.." Maera began as the sheets where pulled back.  
"Horseshit! A queen does not prepare herself and will you stop fussing and let them work? Fie!" she spat.

Maera was washed, brushed, scented and painted. They tightened her corset and layered so many skirts she stopped counting after three. Her hair was pinned up beautifully before the jewels were brought out before her for her choosing. Maera was flustered, hot of cheek and shakey of hand she pointed at a large ruby necklace and ring.  
Once she was attired the girls backed away and waited for their dismissal which the old woman granted with a curt "Away with you."

"Any news on that demon Loki?" The old woman looked over the plates of cakes with a huff at what was before her.  
Maera shook her head, she didn't trust herself to speak.  
"He killed one of our men last night then reigned fire on the rest of them. The mischief maker has returned to our lands and you'd do well to be prepared." She choose a small yellow cake and greedily shovelled it into her mouth.  
"Was he a good man who died?' Maera asked. She'd been dirty and covered in his blood last night and now here she was dressed in the finest clothes with rubies adorning her.

"I wouldn't know and nor would I care. We loose good men everyday and the sun rises and sets still. I wonder how many alone your idiot husband has cost us?" The old woman spoke with a mouthful of cake, spraying crumbs down her dress front.  
Maera shrugged truly not knowing what to say.  
"In any case, he might be unlucky on the field sooner than you think." The old woman winked.  
"Pardon?" Maera asked. She had an inkling of what the woman hinted at.  
"Fear not, it is arranged as we discussed." Her wizened hand picked the icing off another cake, all sharpened nails and paper thin skin.  
"I'm not sure I follow." Maera offered evenly.  
"Clodhead! You know of what I speak. He will meet his end sooner rather than later and then you can marry Horace. Hopefully he'll set root within and give us our prince."  
It fell into place for Maera then. She was aghast to know that the Queen would have her own husband killed.  
"Keep your voice down." Maera hissed.  
"You may be Queen but that gives you no right to speak to me thus." the old woman snapped her fan up and fluttered it.

"On the contrary it gives her the right to speak to you or anyone as she pleases." Loki entered through the window with a dark grin on his face.  
"As Queen she could have you publicly flogged or worse."  
He gave a low mocking bow to the old woman who looked desperately to Maera.  
"What is this?!" the old woman shouted.  
"Come Penora you are old and your days are numbered. Better you step away from the court of Queen Maera." Loki waved his hand close to Maera and her features shimmered into view for a second before the Queens face settled back.  
The old woman slumped off her chair pulling the table cloth, cakes and wine decorated her as she groaned on the floor.  
"Loki!" Maera knelt to the side of the old woman. "Oh no!"  
"Oh dear..is she dead?" Loki sounded bored.  
"She better not be..she's the Queen's mother, I will hang." Maera panicked.  
"Except you are the queen..." Loki smirked.  
"I am the queen.." Maera repeated as it sunk in she was untouchable.  
A slow smile spread over her face again, Loki was wicked but in that moment she loved him for it.  
"So then rule them." He ordered.  
And so she did....

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"How fares my Mother?" Maera asked the owlish little man who had diligently tended to the ailing old woman for the past few weeks.  
He pinched the bridge of his nose while sighing, he hadn't slept much.  
"My Queen may I speak frankly?" he began.  
"Of course you may." Maera replied, even her voice sounded queen-like these days.  
"I have looked after your Mother for years when she has fallen ill. The woman has always pulled through her sicknesses, alas I fear this one will just confine her to bed for the rest of her days. She doesn't have long left, there is nothing more to be done." he spoke quietly, his head hung in defeat.  
Maera didn't quite know what to say, on one hand she had to appear saddened but truly all she felt was relief. No one else knew her true identity but for the old woman, if she was to die then the constant worry of being revealed would no longer haunt her.  
"Hasten it." Maera ordered.  
The man's head snapped up as though he couldn't believe her words.  
"Your majesty?"  
Maera looked him in the eye gave a tight lipped smile at what she was asking of him.  
"I will pay you enough to start afresh. Surely it is kinder to make it swift than to prolong her suffering. Your loyalty to my Mother does not go unnoticed, end it how you see fit. I am confident in your ability to make it look natural." Maera walked over to the doors.

"Old women die in their sleep all the time." 

She left him to think it over.

 

Maera found constantly being flanked by guardsmen and ladies-in-waiting to be greatly annoying. These days it felt like she couldn't take a piss in peace. Loki had been disguised as Horace since the old woman gave away the Queen's extramarital affair, Maera soon learned that the Queen's fling with the younger and most dashing Sir Horace was something of a joke among her courtiers.  
The real Horace languished in the dungeons, ignored and disfigured after Loki had took his face, brave as he was Horace was no match for Loki and found himself beaten to a pulp. Cruelly Loki had taken his dagger and cut out Horace's tongue to silence him.

The whispers that the Queen was not of sound mind began circulating, Maera lacked that quality of regal power, she tripped up on her words, misunderstood how the palace was run and seemed to never enquire after her Husband over seas. They all noticed how Sir Horace had the Queens ear but none were brave enough to challenge him for fear of upsetting the Queen. Indeed after a few weeks the new regime suited most as there was less royal protocol and more mead and song in the halls. It was dangerous, Lords grew bold and discussed what was to be done till the King returned.  
A messenger was sent to relay certain information to the King.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

The minstrels played a bawdy song about rolling in the hay while much merriment was had in the hall. Maera clapped and cheered as the men began wrestling for sport while Loki upped the mood considerably by calling for a goat and ribbons, the court watched rapt as Sir Horace undid his breeches and pulled out his balls, he tired the ribbon around his sac then secured the other end of the green ribbon to to the goats collar, with a firm slap on the goats flank the creature let out a cry and pulled away from Loki. His balls where yanked forward making him yelp, the chorus of laughter rang out in the hall as Loki pulled away from the goat and it's pitiful attempt to be free.  
"Horace! You fool!" they cried as Loki hammed up his public display of stupidity.  
"My name is Sir Horace GoatBalls!" Loki yelled and poured a full bottle of mead over his head much to everyone's delight.  
Maera sat on her throne and wondered just what the real Sir Horace would think of such a nickname.  
The night turned into a full blown debauched affair, those of a weaker disposition left and many a wife was sent packing home for the night but Loki still wasn't done.  
"Send for the Bone Maiden!" he roared.  
The hall erupted into whistles and cheers.  
Maera sipped her wine with a bored expression. 'Brawny idiots.' she thought surveying the amount of shirtless men stalking about the hall.

The arrival of the Bone Maiden soon quieted down most of the noise. She was covered by a large black hooded cape, her face was barely visible in the candle lit shadows.  
Loki whispered into Maera's ear "Enjoy."  
Maera tutted, she'd heard the village lads mention the Bone Maiden in hushed voices. Now she was to witness her firsthand.  
"Bone Maiden please begin, my men are ready for a show." She sounded so bored Loki was impressed. Although she wasn't much of a Queen her confidence had grown greatly since she'd taken the throne. He gave her hand a small squeeze but she didn't even look at him.  
"Why do they call her the Bone Maiden?" Maera asked.  
"You'll find out." was all Loki offered her by way of explanation.

The music started up from the minstrels on the balcony overlooking the hall and the Bone Maiden placed a leather bag on the ground from under her cape. With exaggerated flair the cape was dropped revealing a woman to be closer to her middling years than the young maid she was supposed to be. Still she had body of a maid, slim hips and pointed tits, her hair was the yellow blonde that suggested barberry ash and wine paste were applied nightly. The bone maiden wasn't coy from the way she caressed herself under the hungry stares of the men, she dropped to her knees and took a small bottle of oil from out of her bag, dripping the liquid onto her intimate parts Maera was quick to notice a slight bored air about the Bone Maiden, she spread herself open to a shocked ripple of gasps from the onlookers. She slipped two fingers inside herself and bucked her hips.  
"Add another!" One of the men called out to her. She didn't even break her rhythm as she added a third finger to her spread wetness.  
"Fuck your pretty quim." another said excitedly.  
She reached into her bag as the another cheer went up...

Maera sat and watched as the Bone Maiden oiled up a rather phallic looking object and shoved it inside her. For a few minutes she fucked herself lazily with what Loki informed Maera was a dildo, a replica of a cock. It made her feel funny to watch, part aroused and ashamed of what she was witnessing. Loki was a brazen as ever and for the second time that night the court saw his prick only this time he was stood to attention. A few of the other men soon followed suit.  
"A bigger one." Loki growled at the Bone Maiden.  
She smirked as she retrieved and eye-wateringly big carved phallus out of her bag and squatted herself half way down on it, she held Loki's attention now as she worked her hips sinking lower each time on the massive length. Loki began stroking himself openly now, he didn't care what they thought and in any case it was Sir Horace's reputation that was ruined beyond repair.

"Fill both your holes!" Loki ordered the Bone Maiden.  
The silence was deafening, most of these men would have never dared to ask their wives of such an act but now they waited to see that puckered opening stretched wide and filled while they stroked themselves.  
Maera tried not look as interested as she was, the Bone Maiden took the smaller phallus and rolled herself over, her knees rested on the ground as though she meant to do a backwards roll but she stayed put. With her arse up high it was apparent that her backside was already filled, the leather loop hung obscenely out of her. The Bone Maiden tugged on the loop and eased the length partway out of her arse, she took the smaller dildo and slipped it inside her quim as a whistle of approval was heard. With skilled hands she fucked herself in front of everyone.  
"That's quite a talent." Maera breathed.  
"I'll bet my bruised balls that you're soaked under that dress my Queen." Loki whispered knowingly.  
"Who's fault is it that they're bruised? Not mine." Maera told him.  
"The fault is all mine now how about we steal away to your bed? I have need to fuck you like a whore." he tucked his cock back into its confines and squirmed.  
"Are you sure you wouldn't like to fuck the Bone Maiden?" Maera asked sourly.  
"I already have, years ago before you ask. Besides I wish to dip in the back end of you once I've ruined that delicate cunt of yours first." Loki kissed her neck not caring who saw. None of the men even looked up to see their Queen necking with Sir Horace.  
Loki stood and held Maera's hand, he placed a bag of coins on the table.  
"The first ten of you get to have at her cunt and arse.." Loki slapped the Bone Maiden's arse cheek "..the rest of you can sort it out amongst yourselves."  
"Thank you sir." the Bone Maiden smiled.  
Maera looked at the group of men surrounding the naked woman, there was at least thirty of them. She couldn't be sure they wouldn't get carried away.  
"Gentlemen before I depart I must warn you that if I hear of any of you mistreating our guest then you will be severely punished. The Bone Maiden says what's what and if she is tired or has had enough then that is how it is coin or no..am I making myself clear?" Maera spoke confidently before Loki pulled her out of the hall and away from the depravity that was about to start.

They both made it as far as her bed before the small servant girl knocked on with the message.

The Queen Mother was dead.


	7. Seven

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A bit of smut and a fair bit of mythos style angst. Our hero goes to his dark place and it's not looking too good for our Maera.

The solemn preparations began for the Queen Mother's funeral while Maera hid away in the queens quarters with Loki.  
"Rather a stroke of luck." Loki poured himself a cup of wine and seated himself at the table while Maera paced nervously.  
"I'm evil." She covered her face with both hands and gulped back a sob. Loki already knew what she'd done. 

"Come." he held out his hands to her and bid her to come sit on his lap. With a heavy heart Maera settled on Loki's knee.  
"I had him kill her Loki but only so she wouldn't tell." Maera flashed her sad eyes at Loki but all he felt was a thrill that in a handful of months this sweet village girl was ruthless enough to have the Queen's mother killed and of her own free will as well. Maera was a jewel and he was quite impressed.

He wrapped his arms protectively around her waist and rocked her gently.  
"Good girl..clever girl." his smile was wicked yet warm for her.  
"I did a bad thing." Maera wailed, the tears finally came.  
"A very bad thing." Loki spoke softly.  
Her shoulders shook with her sobs as Loki attempted to soothe her, he knew she'd never forget this. One tends to never forget the first life they take.  
"You did a brave thing just to conceal us both. Dearheart, you had a problem nipped in the bud and 'tis no easy thing to do so, it requires courage and you have shown that." Loki walked his slender fingers up her spine, with each little bump her true apple altered features settled back and then gone was the regal face. Loki kissed her frightened little mouth with a gentleness he rarely showed anyone save his offspring.

She grabbed at him, their kiss deepening more hungrily. Maera pulled away and looked into the tricksters eyes, she saw what she thought was understanding.  
"Am I to be damned?" she asked him.  
"Not by me." was Loki's reply. He smoothed her hair out of her face, she was innocent in a way he had never been. Loki knew the longer they continued to be with each other she would go down a path from which she'd never fully recover despite his lies of living out her life with with Tobin if she so wished. 

"I feel different, why is that harder to accept than looking different?" Maera twiddled his hair within her fingers.  
"You wish me to answer? Dove, you had a vicious old women killed kindly. No, it was not her time till we usurped the throne but we were not to know she'd take so ill. Better to give her the dignity she deserves rather than to see her deteriorating. Maera darling, the woman who's life you ended has more blood on her hands than you by far. Do not mourn for her, she would've had you snuffed out more cruelly if she by chance managed to raise the alarm. In a way you did the citadel a favour." Loki gave her hand a reassuring squeeze. "You saw how she treated the servants."  
Maera gave a slight nod "She was horrible."  
"She was and none shall miss her." Loki said with a shrug.  
"Would you lay with me Loki? I have need to forget." Maera kissed his forehead and the sweetness of her affection touched Loki, it was honest and given freely to him.  
"I will make you forget." he assured her.

He made good on his word. 

His lips trailed fire along her breasts, heated kisses that made her tug at his hair possessively. Each garment was torn away from her with ease, Loki kneaded at her soft flesh with his large hands while seating her on his cock. Maera cried out from the feel of him as he moved upwards to sheath himself deeper still.  
"None shall harm you." he said. It wasn't a lie, in that moment Loki meant it.  
He was rarely moved, true sentiment always caught him off guard. As he drove himself into her he felt the weight of it settle within him.  
What had he done?  
"I'm sorry." he stilled and cupped her face.  
"I love you." Maera told him.  
"You shouldn't." Loki said sadly, once she knew what he'd done she'd hate him.  
He was a fool.  
"I do. I love you, I don't care if you don't love me." She smiled down at him.  
"You don't love me, one day you'll curse my name." Loki released her face.  
She adored him and it angered him greatly, this wasn't how it was meant to be.  
"I will never curse your name." Maera leaned down to claim his lips.  
'You will. They all do.' Loki thought as her tongue plundered his mouth.  
She breathed in the scent of his skin, he reminded her of cold winter mornings. Maera came and he stared at her enraptured as she sang out the desire in her soul for him.  
Loki laid her on her back, she clawed and bit him as he fucked her hard.  
This he welcomed, the animalistic side was what he needed of her otherwise he'd be tempted to whisper honeyed words of love to her.  
He growled his pleasure into the cushions, his head turned away from her sweet face. The shift of his affections frightened him. He altered her face back to that of the Queen then without a word he got up and left Maera alone in bed.

 

Loki walked for miles, barefoot and bare chested. He carried his bag and the uncomfortable feeling of what he'd done.  
He found himself at the foot of the hills and sobbed.  
The earth shook and Ravens did soar high in the clouds.  
"Feni." Loki called out to the giant wolf that snarled down at him. He felt no fear as his son nudged him with his nose.  
The wolf son carried his Father back to the caves.  
Angrboda served him barley stew and refused to speak to him.  
She was used to his strange moods and would speak her mind when his wildness had eased.

Days passed. In the palace Maera was forced to endure the burial of the Queen Mother and the mourning period alone. She wept openely, the courtiers offered her their sympathies for the loss of her Mother. None of them knew her tears were for herself for being so foolish. She was trapped, trailed by guards and ladies, hounded by her counsel to run her lands. Maera wanted to run but knew she knew there was simply no way to slip out of the palace unnoticed. Her confidence had taken a grave knock after Loki's departure. She trusted no one and desperately thought of plans to escape.

"I would speak with you husband."  
Loki sighed, he knew what was likely to be said. He looked at his wife, she seemed smaller somehow. He didn't like it.  
"Make it quick, I promised the boys I would take them to the river."  
He spent his days with his children and they softened his heart with their love of him.  
"Who is she?" Angrboda asked.  
"This again?!" Loki threw up his arms in exasperation.  
"Yes this again! Husband your heart beats for another. I hear you say her name in your sleep." Angrboda knew her husband couldn't be faithful but whoever this "Maera" was she had truly gotten under his skin.  
"My heart beats for you. I am yours." Loki lied.  
"Once I would've believed that Liesmith. You best be on your way soon. Odin will be baying for your blood if you linger too long." Angrboda snapped.  
"How different you are wife, once you would have pleaded with me to stay and now you wish to cast me out." Loki smacked his chest in temper.  
"I am done with you mischief! Too many tears I have shed over you. Let your Maera cry for you now. I no longer love you." Her voice cracked as she spoke.  
"Nay..nay you have always loved me." Loki grabbed her, his fingers digging painfully into her arms.  
"I loved the trickster who was sent to steal my seers sight for the All-Father, the chaos bringer who stole me away instead and made love to me till we ached. I loved the fire bringer who got me with child thrice and I see him in you no longer. You do not love me, you come to me when you are beaten down then you leave me for the hidden paths of the realms. No longer call me your wife. Be gone from me." Angrboda wept.  
"I beg you.." Loki began but she shook her head.  
"Our children." he felt a stab of pain in his chest.  
"They will thrive, they already have despite your meagre input so far." She spat.  
And just like that Loki's life unraveled further.

He kissed his children goodbye. None of them knew they'd most likely never see their Father again.  
As he walked away from them he lost his mind, once out of their sight he slammed himself against rocks and punched at the earth, bloodied and empty Loki finally collapsed. 

Miles away sat on the Queen's throne Maera was racked with agony, she pitched forward in front of her shocked courtiers. Her face changing as people screamed and men drew their swords. Loki's magic was exhausted as he slept on the cold ground, all his energy had ceased, the results were catastrophic for Maera.  
"Witch!" she was savagely dragged to the dungeons as certain Lords crowed that they had suspected as much. Of course they lied, they had thought the Queen not of sound mind.

"When the King returns you will be tortured and then executed in whatever manner he sees fit." A portly Lord sneered at her.  
Maera barely heard his words, she drifted into herself. If she didn't acknowledge the horror of her situation she could cope.  
Loki wouldn't leave her to die.  
"Loki." she whispered in the dark.  
He didn't answer.


	8. Eight

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> You can't have the light without the dark and I suppose this is quite dark however it leads into their next adventure which I can say happily is a lot more fun. I can't promise he won't annoy you with his behaviour at times.

"Loki." 

He whimpered in his exhausted state as he faintly heard Maera from afar.

"Help me!"

Loki felt too weak to comply with her desperate request, he sank back into his slumber. Days would pass before he would wake.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

A figure moved from the darkest part of the dungeon watching as the young girl spoke to herself.  
He'd been robbed of his tongue by the trickster they called Loki and he knew this girl was the demons lover.  
The witch who'd taken the throne now sat on the damp, stinking ground with the rest of the broken souls in here. He wouldn't forgive her for the fate that had befallen him.  
Sir Horace wanted to hurt her. He wasn't a violent man by any means, indeed he had led a life of ease and comfort especially since the true Queen had taken him as her lover but this girl had robbed him of all that and his hatred of her consumed him.  
Maera tucked her knees up to her chest and hummed a song her Mother used to sing to her when she was a babe. Her thoughts of her family were a small comfort to her. 

It was Loki who came to her in her dreams, flames surrounding them both as she danced with him. An undulating mass of scaly skin wove between them both till she looked into the face of the giant serpent, it's tongue slithered against her face.  
She slept fitfully, whimpering and grinding her jaw.  
When the sun rose she met it with bleary eyes.  
"I don't want to die." she told herself.  
She couldn't meet the accusing eyes of Sir Horace or look upon any of the other prisoners. In her mind she stayed, her thoughts keeping her safe from the reality of her situation.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Will you swear your loyalty to the All-Father?" Thor gripped Angrboda by her gown as she twisted and kicked out.  
"For what he did to my beloved? I would rather spit upon his haggard one-eyed face than show him loyalty." she sneered at Thor.  
A chuckle came from the surrounding men as Baldr approached her.  
"From what I hear you are no longer with the silvertongue so why not come with your children and live among us Aesir. We can use your seers sight to protect Asgard." his words were cleverly crafted to trick Angrboda. She was no fool and would not hear his lies.  
"I will live as a chained beast while my children will be used as mere weapons to shield your King. Be he a liar yet I still trust my Liesmith rather than your All-Father." She cried.  
"Come, if you deny us then we have our orders." Thor spoke. Angrboda knew he didn't want to do what he had been ordered to do by the All-Father.  
"Please." he looked upon her with kindly eyes.  
"Thunder god you are blind as to what your Father has done to your blood brother. My answer is still no." Angrboda was not for turning.  
"Very well. Men begin to pile the wood." Baldr commanded.

Angrboda shut her eyes and bid her children to flee with her magic. She'd told them the night before the sons of Odin had arrived what would take place.  
"I will chew their blood and bones!" Feni had growled with a protective arm around each of his siblings.  
"Little wolf they would capture you and kill you all, I do not want that. You will run and hide, stay as you all are for if you transform to wolf and serpent they will hunt you. My brave warriors will have to look after their sister for me." Angrboda drew them into her arms and choked back her tears. Despite all her best efforts she was powerless to stop it, a prophecy cannot be undone. She was to die.

The three children watched sadly as the flames rose high. Jormun wept rocking his baby sister but Feni didn't shed a tear. He silently vowed to make them pay for what they did to his mother.  
"Come on."  
The two boys walked deeper into the wooded-hills with their sister, their mother had told them where to stay till they were grown. She had taught them much and now it was up to them to bide their time. 

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Loki felt the loss of her. Angrboda had passed.

He had mocked her and called her foolish, he had swore it would never happen. She warned him off many a time but he had to have her and now she was nothing more than ashes.  
"I curse your very bones All-Father!" he roared into the night.  
Still he knew there was nothing even he with all his magic could do to change a prophecy.  
"I will have my day you wretches. There will come a time you will beg me for mercy and none shall I grant you." Loki rose with a heart full of fire and rage.  
A man with a wounded a heart is a dangerous animal but a being that is worshipped as a God is to be truly feared.  
"I would ask this of you gatekeeper, shield my children from his eyes. They have done naught to anyone and I could not..." Loki found the words too painful to even say.  
Heimdall the gatekeeper silently granted Loki his wish. Although his loyalty was to his King he knew deep down Loki had suffered enough at the hands of Odin.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Are you not joining in with our feasting brother?" Baldr raised his tankard of mead. Thor was in no mood for revelry after what he'd witnessed today, he knew he'd committed an act that stained his very spirit as a warrior.  
"I see no pointing in celebrating the death of an innocent woman." Thor smashed his fist on the table causing the drinks to spill.  
"Innocent? That jotun whore was a witch and an enemy to our Father." Baldr growled.  
"She was no enemy. I think we both know that to be a lie told to us by our Father." Thor replied.  
"Hold your tongue, that talk is treason." Baldr looked about the table to his men as though he wanted them to agree.  
"I grow tired of your company brother. I will leave you to your cups." Thor turned his back on Baldr and left the hall.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The stench of death hung in the air and turned Maera's stomach. She'd been a prisoner since two moons passed. A few days ago one of the older prisoners had finally succumbed to his eternal rest and now sat decaying in a corner covered by a filthy blanket. She hadn't eaten, her stomach churned and growled painfully, her lips were so dry she felt them split if she spoke.  
She didn't speak often.  
Sir Horace watched her constantly but he was quite aware she paid him no mind these days.  
She never dove for the drinking water or the bread at meal times, she had been that way for weeks. It seemed unnatural for anyone to survive with no sustenance.  
'Witch.' he thought bitterly. 

Later that night when all was unbearably silent the hooded one came for her bones. Sir Horace watched frozen with fear as she removed the blanket from the old man and took out her dagger. She took his fingers and placed them in a small pouch.  
"A sad fate for what was such a fine warrior." she said and covered the old man once more.  
The hooded figure noticed Maera and immediately went over to where she sat. She stroked the girls hair. "Oh you've got yourself tangled with a dangerous one." she said softly.  
"Bone Maiden?" Maera croaked.  
"Aye. I see the skytreader has left you to your fate." she wasn't surprised for hadn't he done the same to many before?  
"I am to die." Maera said. It wasn't a question but an acceptance.  
"That is not your fate." the Bone Maiden replied.  
"I care not for fate only for truth and I know my time draws near." Maera bowed her head in defeat.  
"You are not to die child, you live still. There is hope." the Bone Maiden rummaged in her bag and held up a small phial.  
"You have been altered, I can feel the energy of you. Drink this, when first light breaks you will walk out of that door and let these poor souls roam free."  
Maera shook her head but still drank the small potion down.  
"I return kindness to those that once showed me such." the Bone Maiden smiled.  
"Who are you truly?" Maera asked.  
"I am life. I am death. The never ending circle...but you can call me the Bone Maiden." she rested her head against Maera. "Rest now but do as I said."

First light came. Maera rose to her feet and looked at the sad pitiful faces surrounding her. At most they had committed petty acts or let their tongues land them in here. None truly deserved their suffering. She glanced over at Sir Horace who stared back with intent.  
"You would like to kill me wouldn't you? I can't say that I blame you. Come." She motioned for him to stand near her. When he stayed put she frowned.  
"I didn't take you as a coward. You fought Loki most bravely as I recall." Maera grinned when he all but went for her but she was too quick on her feet for him.  
"I finally see what I have been given and I can give you back that which was taken so cruelly." Maera explained.  
She toppled him and sat astride his chest as he struggled and gurgled with words unspoken.  
"Cease!" Maera yelled.  
Sir Horace felt the ruined remains of his tongue swell in his mouth as Maera held him still. He groaned in agony and a cursed scream tore out of him.  
"Witch!" he bellowed and then froze in shock. He could speak, a full blown laugh bubbled up from him and then he wept.  
"I am sorry for what he did. I think you should leave all this behind, go far away. They will kill you as traitor for all the things he did as you once the King returns." Maera left him on the ground and waited till the guards burst in at all the commotion.  
She left the three of them dead.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
It was quite easy to walk out of the palace now she knew what she was capable of.  
She remembered that fight in the citadel when Loki had cruelly tricked her into believing they would cut her hand off and the way she had thrown about his Raven men. All this time she had been unaware of what a gift she possessed.  
The Bone Maiden had woken her up to what she could do.  
She didn't need anyone.  
In the distance she watched as a small group of prisoners ran in different directions and hoped they would make it to safety.  
"Loki?" she called.  
She got no answer.

Loki heard her but stayed in his new dwelling. He would stay away, he only brought misery and pain to those that knew him.  
"I know you can hear me!" Maera taunted.  
He sighed in annoyance as she called his name over and over till he finally snapped and brought her forth with a complex spell Frigga had once taught him.  
"What? What do you want from me?" He snarled as she appeared before him.  
He wasn't prepared for what he saw, she was thin and bruised. Her hair was unkempt and the smell of dried piss clung to her.  
"So you heard me." Maera said. He knew what she was getting at, he'd ignored her at a time when she most needed his help. The shame of it burned him deep.  
"I had my reasons." was all he offered.  
"Well if we are done am I to go back home?" Maera asked him.  
"If that is what you wish." Loki lied.  
"I was a fool to take up with you." she laughed bitterly.  
"Do no think to taunt me little dove, I am not in my right mind to deal with such petulant nonsense." Loki snapped.  
"Are we done then?" She asked once more.  
"No." Loki said.  
"What do you mean no?!" Maera yelled at him.  
"What I mean is no we are not done. know this girl you'll see much for one as fragile as your kind." the way he said it came off more menacing then he'd intended.  
She didn't cower away which took the trickster by surprise.  
"My kind? What would that be?" She cocked her head and waited for his lies.  
"Mortal." he looked at her coldly.  
"You're lying." Maera hissed at him.  
The slap he gave her knocked the breath out of her lungs and sent her to the ground.  
As soon as his hand connected with her cheek he wished to take it back but he'd been unable to control the way he whipped out to strike her.  
"I'll tell you what you are when I'm good and ready!" he spoke to her as though she was an annoying child.  
He expected anger or tears.  
She gave him none.  
Sleep didn't come easy for either of them that night.

"Maera?" Loki looked over to where she lay on her side. She didn't even blink, her eyes wide like saucers.  
"Are you hungry?" he asked her.  
She didn't respond.  
"I have some bread and grapes." Loki pulled out a square piece of cloth and placed the food down for her. "Fresh ale too."  
He stepped away from her and waited for her to eat.  
The food remained untouched.  
Angrily he gathered her into his arms and flew high over the trees, he knew where he was headed.

He let her go. She plummeted like a stone through the clouds yet still no sound escaped her lips.  
Maera hit the water with a painful smack. She sank down into the freezing depths, finally resting at the silty bottom.  
Loki waited.  
He waited some more.  
Panic set in and he dove down for her.  
He dragged her bedraggled form to the side of the lake.  
"What are you doing?!" he yelled while shaking her. She was a mess of mud and bruises now.  
"You will stop this." Loki hissed.  
Her silence was beginning to rattle him, he could deal with any number of insults or the feel of fists aiming blows at his face but to be faced with indifference was something he found he didn't like. None had ever treated him this way.  
He weaved his magic and cleaned her up, she still remained unmoved. After a quick rummage in his bag he found an old tunic of his and pulled it over her head.  
She was fresh and presentable at least.  
Loki took them both back to his dwelling.

"I have nothing you know. They..or rather he took it all from me. Loki poured her a cup of ale in his cave. The flames of the fire caused flickers and shadows on the stone walls.  
He'd made the place habitable at least with a few comforts. He decided to do the talking for both of them.  
"They never question him. Never." Loki went on. He was sure Maera was close to drifting off to sleep.  
"He has used me to save his sons or his warriors and what thanks do I get? I'm never fully accepted within the mighty All-Fathers court. I have bore him his steed through magic, it almost killed me. They all ridiculed me..even he. He has a taste for the unusual, they won't tell you that. Not that I don't myself, I enjoy my bed companions as long as they are willing. Ergi..they whispered it wherever I went. All know I warmed his bed more than his wife or concubines." Loki took a swig of his ale.  
"He took me from Jotunheim purely as his plaything. At first I was treated as nothing more than an amusement. The All-Father's boy. He grew cruel." Loki went quiet and stared into the flames.  
He remembered all.  
The ridicule, the lovers who denied ever sleeping with him. "Loki Liesmith none trust your word!" the laughter at his expense and finally the sick pleasure they all seemed to take from his suffering.  
Loki had began carving his secret pathways out of Asgard but they always found him and brought him back.  
"She was right. Angrboda warned me it would be as such and I never believed her, fool that I am! I've lost them. I have nothing." Loki knew for certain he would be reunited with his children, Angrboda had told him so.  
He was startled out of his thoughts by a small hand resting atop his.  
"You have your magic." Maera told him.  
She was right.  
"Get some rest."  
Loki did as she told him for what joy would he get from arguing with her now?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It took time. Maera busied herself by walking in the woods and hills gathering anything edible while Loki spent his days lost to his thoughts.  
"Will you ever leave here?" Maera questioned him one night. Winter was drawing in and the chill was aggravating when she tried to sleep.  
"Perhaps." was all Loki said.  
"We will suffer over winter if we do not find better shelter." she pushed on knowing Loki had little to no interest in her concerns.  
"You might, I won't for I am of jotun blood." he said smugly. The cold rarely bothered him.  
The thought of another night aching on the cold ground displeased Maera greatly.  
"If you are cold then please by all means join me." Loki lifted his woollen blanket and waited for her to slip under it's meagre warmth.  
Maera sheepishly nestled in, it had been a while since they'd been physically close to one another. Being beside him conjured up memories of their bed play and Maera tensed up, since he'd lost his wife Loki had expressed zero affection or desire towards her.  
"Comfortable?" Loki asked.  
"Somewhat." she muttered.  
He wrapped an arm around her and pulled her against him, she wanted to wriggle away but he was warm and so she stayed put.

Maera settled into a light sleep against his chest. Loki sensing he would meet no resistance from her kissed the top of her head.  
"You've ventured far." he whispered and stroked the side of her face, tucking her hair behind her ear.  
He would walk her further still.


	9. Nine

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The journey to safety(?) begins and then Thor shows up. There's a bit of sweet smut in this, I think perhaps Loki isn't as immune to Maera as he would have you believe. X

"Mayhap you're right. We'd be better off finding a better dwelling if only to keep you from your grousing." Loki stirred a pot of milk and oats as he spoke.  
Maera hid her grin as he made up their food. He seemed a little like his old self, he pottered around and made them simple meals.  
"I hate cooking, 'tis the work of a woman." He smirked as he ladled their bowls full.  
"Then you must be a woman for you cook so well." Maera teased. The withering look he gave her sent her into a peal of laughter.  
"Eat." he urged her.  
She needed to add a little meat to her bones to ease off the cold.  
They had much to do if he was to find them a comfortable place to stay. In truth Loki looked forward to leaving the cave, he rather liked the idea of holing up over winter. He hoped Odin's watcher would let him be for a while as he didn't feel like he could muster the energy for a fight and yet he knew should it come to that he would readily do battle.

"We will head south." he said, he took his bag and with a snap of his wrist the basic furnishings disappeared then he folded his bag away like paper.  
"Clever!" Maera exclaimed. It was always incredible to see magic in action.  
"Simple tricks..." Loki shrugged, he didn't give them much thought.  
"For a simple maid, before you even finish it." Maera wouldn't allow him the dig.  
"Your words not mine." Loki wagged his finger at her.  
"Your thoughts and don't wag your finger at me." She couldn't help but laugh.  
Loki grinned at her, his face looking radiant once more. He seemed ageless at times. The only giveaway were his eyes, they told it all.  
"I have a favour owed to me off a troll." Loki adjusted his bag the with a sweep of his hand it was concealed.  
"A troll?" Maera had heard the stories of how devious they could be but she never truly believed them to be real.  
"Oh yes, they exist as you'll find out." Loki spoke as though he read her thoughts.  
"Aren't they meant to be cruel?" Maera wasn't so sure she wanted to be in the company of creatures that had eaten babes.  
"They are and yet none are a match for me...fear not my little dove." Loki placed a reassuring arm around her shoulder. "None will touch you."  
"I shall use my fists if they do." Maera vowed.  
"Would you fight for me Maera?" Loki asked with a serious look playing across his face.  
"I would." She said earnestly.  
"Why?" Loki turned her to face him.  
"Truth be told I don't think enough have fought for you have they? Fought over you or because of you perhaps." Maera traced her fingers over his scarred lips and couldn't help but noticed he clenched his jaw.  
"You are learning." Loki swallowed as though his mouth had gone dry.  
"I am." she said.  
She was a hair's breadth from his lips with her own now and Loki leaned in to claim hers but she drew back.  
"Later." her eyes were lit with a promise.  
He lost his words for that little moment, she was growing braver under his tutelage.  
From the way she walked and the way she looked boldly at him Loki had to admire her then. For hadn't he caused her suffering and sorrow? And yet here she stood with him, unbroken and fierce.  
"Later?" he repeated and watched as her cheeks flushed under his stare.  
"Aye." She gave him a smile.

"Well then by foot, wing or magic?" he asked.  
"Foot for now, you need to keep your strength up." Maera knew spells would take a toll on him and they needed to be battle ready at all times.  
"I'll be fine for I have a maid who swears she would fight for me." Loki teased. He took her hand and brought it up to his lips, kissing along her knuckles.  
"She'll fight you if you carry on, 'tis early and we don't have much in the way of light so let us go." Maera was keen to get some distance done.  
Loki kept a hold of her hand. Their journey began, down the rocky hillside and along the banks of the streams they walked out of view. The terrain grew harsh, more ice was underfoot and eventually as the fading sun set over the hills they set up camp in a long dead hermits hut. 

Loki blew on his fingers and a fire was soon warming their bones. He set his bag on the ground and set about making a bed for them both.  
Once satisfied it was comfortable enough he removed his heavy cape and boots. Maera rid herself of her shawl and dress and tugged her slippers off. She'd expected to find blisters but there was none to be found.  
When she turned round Loki was already under the covers and nursing a cup of mead.  
"We can stay here for a day or two." Maera knew it'd be better to take it slow after the miles they'd walked.  
Although Loki was a being that could outlast any mortal man to her mind he still wasn't strong enough to deal with Odin or any of his men.  
"Must we?" Loki looked appalled at the thought of it.  
"I do not wish to see you grow ill." Maera slipped beneath the blankets.  
"I am much stronger than you think dove." Loki handed her the mead and fiddled around with his bag.  
"You are not, you're better than you were but I do not sense that you are completely healed." she sipped at the mead but found it sour.  
Loki opened his mouth to correct her but found himself giving up the idea of grumbling when he looked at her concerned expression.  
Maera knocked the rest of the mead down and drew him into her arms, he found he didn't mind.  
With her fingers raking his scalp and his face resting upon her bosom Loki soon fell soundly asleep.  
"Later indeed." Maera chuckled in the dark.

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Odin paced around the gatekeepers watch, he tossed gungnir to the floor as Heimdall feigned his concentration.  
"I see nothing All-Father." Heimdall lied.  
"Nothing?" Odin repeated.  
He drew closer to Heimdall and scrutinised the gatekeepers crystal white eyes.  
"If you are lying to me Heimdall..." Odin's voice was a mere rasp of barely contained anger.  
"I would not." Heimdall forced himself to lie once more. He'd always been loyal to his King but even he knew Odin had a cruel streak toward Loki.  
"Nay, you would not. I shall take my leave but do not hesitate to inform me if you spy him or his brats. I would have him brought to me." Odin picked up his staff and left Heimdall to collect his thoughts.  
He would talk with Thor, he was the most open to discussion about these matters.

 

Thor arrived not long after Heimdall sent word for him. He was no fool and had an inkling as to what this was about.  
"I have word on Loki but I must ask you to not tell anyone..even the All-Father." Heimdall kept his voice low.  
"Loki?" Thor was unable to hide his affection for his old friend.  
"He lives still, he travels with a woman. I believe he has altered her with an apple of Idunn. His children thrive, they are hidden in the six hills and they grow strong." Heimdall clapped a hand on Thor's shoulder.  
"This is fortunate news. Would you let me visit him?" Thor asked.  
"Aye, you will have to go down a pathway of Loki's that he has hidden." Heimdall grinned, none could stay hidden from him.  
"I will take some food, some weapons..his weapons." Thor was already on the move.  
"Have a care Odinson and make sure you are not seen." Heimdall was nervous as he spoke.  
Thor paused at the doorway before he left to gather up his supplies "Heimdall why are you doing this for him? I hold him in affection but.."  
"He has suffered enough." was all Heimdall offered.  
Thor wouldn't disagree.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Maera?" Loki whispered against her ear, goosebumps rose on her flesh as he spoke softly to her.  
"Yes?" She yawned and wriggled under the sheets.  
"Good to see you're awake." he laughed as she groaned and grumbled.  
"No thanks to you." She tugged the blankets off him and received a gentle smack on her behind.  
"I was on a promise yesterday as I seem to recall." Loki pressed a kiss to her cheek, his hands already slipping under her shift.  
"You fell asleep on me old man!" Maera tried not to laugh as he tutted at her remark.  
"There's life in the old dog yet.." Loki pressed suggestively against her and pulled her shift up over her backside.  
"So he says." Maera soon went quiet as his hands cupped at her breasts, with his palms flat he stroked over her nipples till they pebbled underneath his touches.  
She let out a moan as his lips replaced his hands, he bit and sucked till she grabbed at his flame coloured hair to ease him off.  
He took that as an invitation to take his kisses lower still, he pushed her thighs apart and allowed himself a moment to admire her and then he was upon her once more.  
Loki licked at her tender flesh, she grew wetter and writhed under his skilled assault.  
"Oh.." Maera hated how well he could control her body by just his tongue and lips alone.  
"Give in to me." he breathed on her glistening sex, his fingers held her hips as he tasted her desire.  
Maera burned down to a cinder, she peaked with a silent cry as the chaos bringer knew she would.  
Loki drew up and rested between her spread legs, gently he entered her this time.  
He hadn't been as such even when he'd taken her maidenhead but right now he wanted to feel her soft welcoming heat and take his time.  
Maera was quick to pick up on the change in his love making, usually they rutted or drunkenly enjoyed each other in the past. This was new.  
Each languid roll of his hips drove her maddeningly close to her completion a second time but he seemed to be drawing this out.  
"Loki." she panted, her hands trailing over his well defined back till they grabbed at his taut arse.  
He thrust harder now leaving Maera crying out with his passion, they both spiralled closer to their release.  
"Come with me." Loki half moaned in his blissful state.  
Maera surrendered to him and Loki lost himself to his pleasure, he came with satisfied grunt inside her.  
They shared a moment of deep affection that left Maera smiling to herself and Loki quiet. He wrapped her up in his embrace whispering his words that had earned him the name silvertongue.

 

"It is raining." Maera entered the hut after washing in a nearby stream. Loki was still drying off after plunging into the water naked.  
"Just as well we have shelter then." he smiled at Maera and rustled in his bag.  
"We have enough oats for a meal at least."  
"I can get us some berries..I know where to pick." Maera offered.  
"Rather I think we can eat the last of these oats then take what we can get as we travel." Loki poured the last of their food in the pot with a purse on his lips.  
They could both go without food that he knew but they would grow weak and with winter already biting he didn't want to face a miserable few months with a growling stomach. Loki loved food, he'd always taken comfort in a good meal when nothing else was going well.  
A rumble of thunder overhead made him jump and clench his jaw. Maera twisted her damp hair into a braid and watched with curiosity at the way Loki's eyes darted and he grew more agitated.  
Outside the storm grew more wild, it seemed unnatural.  
Loki pulled on his clothes and pretended to be busy with the meal but he was silently cursing what the thunder would bring.  
A violent bolt of lightening lit up the hut and caused Maera to yelp with shock.  
"What's going on?" she asked Loki who was stood near the door of the hut.  
He yanked the door open and looked out into the heavy downpour.  
"Odinson!" he roared.

Maera watched in awe as Loki sprang out the door with the wild anger of a god.  
"Loki!" Thor held his hands up and sank to his knees.  
"I will kill you for what you did!" Loki snarled at the kneeling son of Odin.  
"Then at least allow me to tell you where your children dwell before you have your vengeance." Thor spoke.  
He was no liar as Loki knew. The fairer son of the All-Father would always face his fate with no complaint. Loki had never truly hated this boy before him..his brother however was a different breed. Baldr was a true Odinson.  
"Speak then." Loki circled him.  
"The six hills. Angrboda sent them to hide there and Heimdall says they grow bigger and healthier by the day." Thor swallowed "it is good to see you Loki."  
"Is it? To see me broken once more?" Loki aimed a vicious kick at Thor's chest.  
Thor hit the ground hard, he would not fight him. Loki was right in his anger.  
"Get up and fight!" Loki roared aiming another kick at Thor.  
"I will not fight you." Thor replied as yet another kick winded him.  
"Then you will die!" Loki spat.  
"I will." Thor groaned as his ribs dipped painfully in under the force of Loki's kick.  
Loki beat Thor with all he could muster and grew more frustrated at the lack of retaliation on Thor's part.  
He looked at the thunder gods bleeding face and staggered backwards, he remembered a time when Thor was a babe and Loki had entertained him with his magic. He dropped down to the muddied ground and wept.  
Maera had been prepared to fight but knew this was between Loki and the Odinson.

Loki felt small hands cup his face. She pulled him to his feet and led him back inside the hut. He didn't even notice when she dragged in Thor and left him near the fire.  
"Loki!" he was snapped out of his thoughts by Maera.  
She wiped at his face with a cloth and set about cleaning him up. Once he was free of mud she pushed a warm drink in his hands.  
Loki watched her clean up Thor with infinitely less care than she'd shown him. Once satisfied he was well she covered him and left a drink near him.  
"What does he want?" she asked Loki.  
"We shall find out." Loki said as he eyed the snoring shape by the fire.  
"Will he make it?" Maera had never seen anyone survive a beating like the one she'd witnessed.  
"Aye. He is a god." Loki drew his arm protectively around Maera's waist and hoped Thor would be on his merry way by the morning.  
Maera gripped the handle of the skinning knife in her apron, she knew tonight she wouldn't sleep.


	10. Ten

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Loki seems to be recovering well as Maera finds out. Thor is still a brave and good hearted warrior and Baldr is the biggest bastard walking. Next chapter will be light hearted till the inevitable.

Thor woke at first light and attempted to move but found himself unable, he knew it would be the work of Loki.  
His head throbbed painfully and each breath he took caused him to wince.  
He could barely remember the events of last night as Loki's face swam into his vision.  
"Loki?" he croaked.  
"You cannot move. I have seen to it..what means you to show yourself?" Loki's voice was cold.  
"Please. If you could just let me explain, I mean you no harm." Thor's tongue felt heavy within his mouth, dry and tender as though he'd bit it.  
"You killed my wife." Loki jumped to his feet and loomed menacingly over Thor.  
"Nothing I say would make that right I know..I know. I am truly sorry for what happened to Angrboda, I would make it right if I could. If you'd allow me? I would stand with you..if you'd so let me." Thor meant every word but he knew it must sound hollow to Loki's ears.

"Why are you here?" Loki eyed Thor with suspicion.  
"The All-Father is of clear mind no longer. I cannot continue to follow blindly as I have done. I have been a loyal son but too much innocent blood stains my hands. I will help you find your children if you so wish to accept my help." Thor looked up in appeal at the trickster. He had a feeling the Loki he once knew was gone as he took in his feral appearance. Robbed of his armour and finery he just resembled a beautiful midgardian man.  
"Forgive me if I do not swallow your empty promises. You would take me back there and have him continue to treat me as cruelly as he always has." Loki turned and left Thor laid on the floor. The hut shook with the force of his departure.

Maera watched as the tall figure on the floor tried to reach out for his cup of ale but found the spell Loki had weaved to powerful to work against. Defeated he gave up with a groan. She laughed, he deserved his suffering after what he'd done to Loki's wife and children.  
"How the mighty have fallen." Maera picked up the ale and tilted it to his lips. Thor drank greedily and asked for another.  
"Be thankful I allowed you that, it's a kindness you don't deserve." Maera carefully poured him another cup.  
"I thank you most graciously my lady." Thor seemed genuine with his words but Maera still found he irked her. The murder of an innocent woman tends to sway most people's kind opinions on others.  
"Do you mean to harm him?" Maera asked as Thor drained his cup for a second time.  
"I do not come with a hidden agenda, I wish to stand with him against the All-Father." Thor held her stare as Maera removed the skinning knife from her apron.  
He struggled as the cold blade pressed against his cheek.

"Did she suffer Odinson?" Maera dug the tip firmly against Thor's flesh as he winced.  
He remembered the screams that seemed to go on till commanded an arrow be fired to kill Angrboda instantly. He'd done many terrible things for Asgard in the name of the All-Father.  
Maera saw the tears prick his eyes, she knew he was shamed to his very bones at what had happened.  
"Whatever pain you carry it is not as heavy as the weight of his. You..your family and your Aesir have treated him as nothing more than an amusement. He was taken as a child. Your All-Father disgusts me!" Maera growled.

"I did not understand the nature of my Father and Loki till I was a young man." Thor had been blind to it till he'd seen with his own two eyes.  
The All-Father had Loki on his knees, his face pressed into the ground as he took him. The language Odin used was unlike anything Thor had heard. In that moment the pure adoration Thor held for the All-Father slipped away and he'd ran till his lungs hurt then vomited upon the flowers of his Mother's garden trying to catch his breath.  
That night at the hall as they all ate their meals Thor watched as the All-Father kept his eyes on Loki, every joke and every dance held his Father's interest till he stood and falsely accused Loki of making a mockery of Asgard. Thor saw it for what it truly was, a jealous old King putting his plaything in his place. He left with his Mother as the court jeered at Loki. Shame kept him quiet.

"I could skin you like a rabbit if I so wished and if I think you are here to harm him then I would not hesitate to take your face." Maera drew the knife away.  
Thor never shied away under her threat.  
"You hold him in high regard?" Thor asked but he already had an inkling that she might just love the jotun, for why defend him so?  
Maera understood that her feelings that ran deeper but what did it matter anyway?  
Love was a path to misery according to some, the gateway to paradise according to others. She didn't really know much in the way of love or life till Loki had stole her away and she was sure there was much to learn still.  
"It is not your concern." Maera snapped as Thor gave a smirk.  
She left him in the hut to seek out Loki.

After a short walk she saw him sitting in the stream, naked and lost in thought. Maera pulled her clothes off then stepped into the clear water. The cold made her suck in a breath as she stepped carefully over the rocks towards Loki.  
He took her hand and pulled her towards him, the water made her shiver as she wrapped her arms around his shoulders.  
"Watch." Loki dipped a finger into the stream and swirled till steam rose, it wasn't long till the water was pleasantly hot.  
"Oh." Maera dipped her hair under the warmth with a contented sigh.  
"Pleasing?" Loki grinned at her.  
"Very much so." Maera nodded, it was luxurious and much needed.  
"How fares our guest?" Loki asked.  
"I gave him a drink." Maera didn't add the rest.  
"And?" Loki quirked his eyebrow and waited.  
"Nothing." Maera couldn't meet his eye.  
"So she thinks to lie." Loki knew all with Maera, he could hear her thoughts and had visions of her past. She could hide nothing from him.  
"Nothing happened." She lied.  
She splashed her face with water and stayed silent. Loki watched her show of indifference with amusement.  
"Take your time dove." Loki stood up, water droplets clung to him. Maera admired his lean muscular build unashamedly.  
She was sorry to see him dress and go back inside the hut.

Thor was still held securely but looked much healed compared to a few hours ago. The privilege of being a god took care of his injuries yet Loki still knew he'd be in considerable pain.  
"What did you hope to achieve Thor? Did you think I would welcome you?" Loki spoke softly but Thor was no fool and knew Loki could strike at any moment much like the snake they called him back on Asgard.  
"I would be an idiot if I thought as such. Your hatred and anger are justified Loki but I would have you hear me out. I never bore you any malice, this you know." Thor felt an uncomfortable feeling of pity when he looked at the jotun.  
"Don't you dare pity me Odinson! Don't you dare. I could break you down and have you fed to the wolves. I am not defeated, I will rise! My children will have their day. We will be the fall of Asgard." Loki paced wildly as he ranted at Thor.  
"That I do not doubt." was all Thor said.  
"Still you would wish to stand with me?" Loki asked.  
"I would. None will challenge him, Mother left a long time ago and begged me to follow her yet I stayed out of my foolish loyalty. I was wrong, my Father grows more unhinged and Baldr seeks his favour." Thor spoke no lies in what he told Loki.  
"Baldr the bastard. He wishes he was the true prince of Asgard but alas he is but one of many...still the All-Father claimed him as his own so he has a chance at least if you should be put aside." Loki hated Baldr and cared not who knew it.  
"This I know and it matters not to me if Father would have him as his heir." Thor cared naught for who would gain the throne.  
He felt the punishing weighted spell lift and was able to move once more.  
"I thank you Loki." he said respectfully.  
"Do not think to betray me or harm Maera." Loki warned him.  
Thor had never had any intention of doing either.

"You would trust him?" Maera was incredulous to hear that Loki had freed Thor.  
"Once a young girl took the paw of the fox in the moonlight, she stands before me." Loki cupped her cheek "Was that girl wise to do so?"  
"She was not but had she known.." Maera tried to hide her smile.  
"But she did not and I know not yet but I will find out any trace of deceit if I think him guilty of such. Fret not dove." Loki soothed.  
He pressed a kiss to her forehead.  
"And thank you for offering to skin his face on my behalf." Loki laughed at her gasp.  
"You." she grumbled.  
If there was one thing Maera didn't like it was how easily he could read her.  
"I could never doubt your loyalty." he said with a mischievous smile upon his face for Maera.  
"Hush now." she felt her cheeks grow hot.  
"Why do you stay?" Loki asked.  
"That I don't know. Some fox once promised to show me all and fool that I am..I am fond of that fox." Maera was unable to stop herself returning a smile to him.  
"Would you seek to tame that fox?" His eyes flashed with flames instead of his moss green.  
"You cannot tame that which is wild, you may love it..perhaps it would love you back but you could never make it a meek creature when it is not the nature it knows." Maera looked away from Loki, to even say love would open her to his mockery she thought.  
"She learns." Loki drew her closer to him and silenced her with a hungry kiss, Maera bit him and he retaliated with a nip of his teeth that drew blood.  
They broke apart with blood upon their lips. Maera stroked his red hair away from his face and looked on him with adoration.  
Loki recognised that look, he'd seen it before from others who'd succumbed to his charms yet this seemed to be much more than that.  
"Perhaps the fox does." he said softly then disappeared before her eyes.  
Maera was rooted to the spot with her breath coming in shallow bursts, his magic still didn't distract her from what he'd said. 

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The three figures sat around the fire feasting on the foods Thor had brought for them. With bellies full of meat and swede they drank the wine while Maera listened to their tales of battles and foolishness.  
"And if..if Loki had not put it right I would be the wife of Thrym!" Thor threw his head back with a laugh while Loki nodded in agreement.  
"What a story.." Maera "forgive me but I shall retire." she stood and began making up the bed to go to sleep, the hut was small and there was to be respite from Thor's thunderous laughter and Loki's cackling.  
They had discussed a lot of their previous adventures and truth be told Maera felt like she was in the way of their reminiscing.  
She huffed and turned over as they continued their revelry, eventually she slept.

Strong hands cupped at her breasts and woke her when the moon was at its brightest, Maera grabbed them at the wrist and shoved them forcefully away.  
"See! She would only surrender to my caresses!" Loki slurred.  
Maera shrieked and jumped up from the bed and saw Thor drunkenly smiling at her.  
"You are right my friend." he stroked his chin as though thinking before collapsing dead drunk on the sheets.  
"What are you about?!" Maera rounded on Loki with two hard slaps that sent him whipping both ways.  
He laughed loud and span her round as though dancing but Maera didn't find it amusing.  
She pulled away and went outdoors to be away from him.  
It was a clear night, the silouhette of the hills and forests in the distance made her long for her home.  
Footsteps crunched in the fresh snow behind her.  
"Forgive me." Loki's voice wavered drunkenly.  
"Go away Loki." Maera snapped.  
When she turned around the only thing that was to be seen was his bootprints in the snow.  
Maera returned to the hut and snatched the blankets off Thor, she settled near the fire and waited for Loki's return.  
He stayed hidden in his spider form and watched her till she slept.

"My sincerest apologies for my unacceptable behaviour last night." Thor placed a bowl of porridge down for Maera as she sat up pulling the sheets up to her chin.  
"Where is Loki?" she looked about the hut.  
"Ah..he will return. In his leave I shall protect you." Thor vowed.  
"I don't need your protection." Maera said coldly.  
"My lady, last night I was in my cups..Loki has a way that makes you think 'tis never a bad thing until the cold light of day. I beg your forgiveness." Thor bowed respectfully.  
"Oh leave me be! I should like to forget it but know this if it happens again I shall cut your balls off and his." Maera rubbed at her temples.  
"I shall let you have your privacy." Thor backed off out of the hut and Maera sighed with relief.  
She inspected the lumpy contents of the bowl and pushed it away, it looked unappealing.

"Loki?" she asked. "Are we playing this game again?"  
"If you'd like." his voice cut in from seemingly nowhere and had Maera bolting in shock.  
"Must you?!" she yelled.  
Loki shifted back to his usual form from the corner of the hut.  
"I didn't mean to frighten you." his eyes shone with amusement.  
"Well then don't hide! You had me thinking you'd left." His smile annoyed her.  
"And if I had?" Loki moved swiftly catching Maera in his arms.  
"Then I would make my way to a village and play the lost girl. Why? Think you I would stay with him?" Maera struggled against his hold.  
"Yet we are not done. I would come for you." Loki captured her lips before she could deny him. He heard her thoughts of him and smiled into their kiss.  
"Be kind, could you?" Maera asked him and Loki wanted to shy away from her sentiment.  
Instead he dropped to his knees and rucked her skirts up, he rustled with his breeches and freed his length.  
Maera found herself brought down on his hardness as he stood, he held her firm and moved her with ease till she began to meet his thrusts.  
"Don't drop me." she said while locking her ankles around his back.  
With his skilled hands on her backside Loki took her till she finally peaked with a throaty cry, her legs suddenly slack he held her and moved harder filing her with his seed. Then it was his turn to lose his balance as each knee went weak and he crumpled to the ground.  
"I didn't drop you!" he said with a grin.  
Outside of the hut Thor whittled wood and smiled at the sound of the lovers laughter.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Heimdall was whipped before the court of Odin. Thor's disappearance along with the missing weaponary had not gone unnoticed. Baldr had whispered that Heimdall would know of Thor's whereabouts.  
"You have failed in your duty as the gatekeeper. Asgard has no need of you, you are dismissed and banished from the palace of the All-Father." Baldr roared.  
The gatekeeper was barely conscious as he was carried out of the largest courtyard. There was a nervous energy in the courtiers now. None would say it but they had begun to doubt Odin was still an accomplished ruler and with Thor gone the idea that Baldr could take the throne was a worry none of them needed.  
"I vow before all of Asgard I will bring Thor back to face his punishment." Baldr knelt respectfully before Odin then rose to his feet.  
He had already begun plotting to rid the realms of his brother. A handful of clever words rid them of Heimdall. Baldr was confident his scheming would go easier without the watchful one reporting his plot to Odin.  
He cast his eyes to the old man now sat upon the throne. Baldr would deal with him after he was named the rightful heir.


	11. Eleven

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Loki sets off to find his children and Maera attempts to come to terms with what she knows.

"Before we seek out our home for winter I must go and bring my children back." Loki spoke between mouthfuls of stew. Maera stayed silent, part of her was afraid for what could happen if he left her again.  
"I will go with you." Thor offered but Loki shook his head.  
"They would not wish to see you." Loki replied.  
Thor bowed his head, Loki was right. What child would be pleased to see their mothers killer?  
"I need to see them alone, to earn their trust as their father." Loki knew there would be much anger in his children towards him.   
"I will take my leave." he rose and began to unpack his bag of possessions.  
"Now?" Maera fretted.   
"Better by nightfall." he smiled.  
"Loki..I have your weapons." Thor handed over the small knives and six pointed blades.  
"Excellent. I trust you have my armour?" he began concealing the knives upon him.  
"Of course." Thor handed him the pieces and Loki was soon covered once more with his enchanted metals that Odin had taken from him. 

"Would you allow us both a moment?" Loki waited till Thor left him alone with Maera.  
"Now before you speak I would give you this." Loki handed a small knife to Maera, it appeared no different to any other knife she carried these days.  
"It is no ordinary blade my dear, it was enchanted by my wife. Any cut is fatal be they a god or no." Maera felt her heart speed up as she wrapped her hand around the smooth handle.   
"And this." Loki gave her an object wrapped in cloth. Maera unwrapped it and stared down at an apple half.   
"You might remember eating the other half." Loki said.  
"The Bone maiden told me what you did." Maera's voice was barely a whisper.  
"So then you know. If you wish to eat the rest then you will no longer be Maera. What I did was cruel at best, you will not rest for thousands of years as no disease nor death by mortal hand can kill you. It gave you beauty and strength but if you eat this half it will give you more than I could ever possibly explain." Loki met her eyes, Maera could see a darkness in them.

"So if I go home...they will never accept me will they? They'd know I wasn't like them. Isadora attacked me!" Maera let the thought sink in, he'd tricked her.  
"Why Loki?" She asked him sadly.  
"If I could answer that I would." he truly had no answer that would make it right.  
"Try!" Maera snarled.  
"Must I?" Loki didn't want to hurt her.  
"I would hear it." she clenched her jaw.  
"Mischief. I had no idea what would happen once I stole you away. I never thought you'd still be here. I knew or rather I had hoped once you had travelled with me then there would be little chance you'd be content to go home and be Tobin's wife." Loki spat out the last part with so much venom that she saw right through him.  
"Jealous." she murmured.  
"Do not be a fool." Loki said dismissively.  
"Yet you are and of a mortal boy." Maera knew there was a truth to her claim.  
"You asked me to give you beauty to make some shit shovelling village boy love you! I merely meant to teach you a lesson." Loki growled.  
"Why are you so angry about it?" Maera was puzzled at his sudden burst of rage.  
"Mortals! You beg us and have us fix your petty problems when we endure far, far worse." Loki ranted.  
"You aren't answering me!" Maera shouted back.

"What would you have me say?" Loki threw his hands up in exasperation. He knew what he felt even if it had started out as nothing more than a mere trick for fun.  
"That I just wanted someone to keep me occupied like a child would a toy? To perhaps laugh at you once you realised you could never go home and would have to watch your sister marry him while you live far away from all those that you loved and that you would watch them grow old then die while you stayed as you were." he ranted at her.  
Maera pressed her back against the wall of the hut as he drew nearer to her.  
"Only it didn't quite go like that for I found myself caring for you and the more I let you down the more I hated myself...for if there is one thing I can do so very well it's that I can hurt those I love." Loki grabbed her under her jaw to make her look at him.  
"I'm sorry."  
"Go get your children." Maera brought her hands up to his wrist and broke free of him.  
"Maera..I would.." Loki found the words would not come.  
"Just let me alone to think." Maera said.  
"Very well." Loki took his leave.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Thor came back to the hut at sundown with a good sized fish and set about preparing it. He was wise enough to hold his tongue when he saw Maera's tear streaked cheeks.   
"Would you like me to boil up some carrots?" she sniffed and wiped her nose with her sleeve.  
"If you are up to it." Thor said gently as she rummaged for them in the sack.  
"Why wouldn't I be?" Maera slapped the offending vegetables down on the rickety table and began cutting them into rough pieces.  
"He will return." Thor told her hoping it might comfort her.  
"If he so pleases." Maera pretended to be unaffected.  
"That is true." Thor gave a nod of understanding to her. He was sure Loki would return but one never truly knew if he would do what was expected of him.  
"One thing you should know of Loki is he will always surprise you."   
Maera was certain that wasn't always a good thing.

They ate their meal in silence. After clearing away their pots, Maera poured them each a cup of ale and sat herself down by the fire.  
"Was he always this way?" She asked Thor.  
Thor could remember a time when he was very young and Loki seemed to be the happiest of all the gods outwardly at least.   
"Truly I cannot say. He used to be the sun in the court of Odin always laughing, always with a quick witted reply." Thor stared into the crackling flames, his eyes dewy with memories of Loki and his own childhood.  
"He lets you see what he would like you to see." Maera replied.  
"Loki is proud, he does not like to show weakness. He has bore the brunt of my Father's rages for too long." Thor drained his cup then helped himself to another.  
"He had told me of what Odin did to him...of what others did to him. He lashes out because he hurts, how could none of you see that? You gods would ask us to worship at your altars when you are no better than us if not worse. Your Father broke him, he took him as a child. Loki had thought he was to be brought up as a warrior for the All-Father not to warm his bed." Maera couldn't understand what made a grown man desire that sort of thing.  
"My Father was wrong." Thor pushed down the memory that haunted him, bile rose in his throat.  
"Your Father is vile." Maera half felt sorry for the thunder God as he shut his eyes tight. His chest heaved with shallow breaths and he raced to the door of the hut.  
She heard him being violently sick outside and climbed into bed, Maera was done with the conversation for tonight.

When morning broke she went outside to find Thor sat whittling sticks into sharp pointed spears.   
"Quite the pile." she looked down at his feet.  
"Aye." Thor stared off into the distance as he carved.  
"Would you care to break your fast?" Maera asked him.   
A simple question but one that offered them both a chance to clear the air.  
"If you are sure?" Thor dropped his stick and casually wiped his knife across his tunic.  
"I am." Maera turned and went back inside to make up some breakfast. Thor had brought a lot of food with him but they had all ate without a care which had greatly dwindled down their supplies.   
Hopefully they'd be settled soon and safely tucked away within the troll village as Loki had suggested.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The six hills were made up of six mountains and enough ice to chill a man's skin black, fortunately Loki was no man and his jotun blood protected him from the elements.   
He'd reached there by dawn and took to his wings to see if he could spy his children. They remained hidden from his view, Angrboda had taught them well.  
He searched every cave and wove up and down every pathway till he rested upon a sharp rock and drank his water.   
Loki knew he could walk this route for the rest of his life and they would still stay hidden, instead he thought of a plan that might just work.  
Taking his one of his untainted blades he stabbed the tip of his finger and allowed his blood to drip into the snow.  
If he knew Feni right the wolf in him would soon make an appearance, all he had to do was wait.

He couldn't hide his grin as he heard a thunderous howl in the distance. Feni could smell a drop of blood from miles away and he knew it would send him into a frenzy without his Mother's ways to tame his hunger. Loki hoped his son wouldn't be too far gone in his hunger to not recognise his own Father.  
The ground seemed to shake underneath the rock, Loki slid down to his feet and scanned about the view, there was still no sign of his children.  
He didn't expect the ground to break open beside him as the giant wolfs head emerged. The rock surface cracked open as Feni smashed his way through with a roar so deafening even Loki covered his ears.  
"Feni!" Loki looked up at his son, green eyes glowered back at him as Feni bowed his head snarling.  
"Calm!" Loki stood with his back straight but the wolf snapped his jaw with an aggressive growl.  
"Son." Loki pleaded as he held his palm out and edged closer to what could be certain death in the jaws of his wolf child.  
"I've come to take you, Jormun and Hela with me." Loki touched the beasts leg and patted him. Feni stood as tall as the smallest mountain, big enough to swallow the sun as Angrboda had once joked. Feni caught Loki's scent, it smelled like home to him. He remembered that scent when he'd crawled between his parents as they slept.

The wolf stared down the red haired man and whimpered suddenly as though he realised who he was.  
"Feni." Loki spoke softly as his son shifted back into the small boy he truly was.  
Loki lifted him as Feni thrashed and screamed in his arms, he exhausted himself with tears and curses while Loki rocked him till the fire inside his son died down.  
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry." Loki repeated over and over to Feni.  
"I'm scared." Feni pressed his face into his Father's tunic.  
Loki knew well why his son was so, watching his mother die then being left to fend for himself and his siblings had taken a toll on his and Angrbodas first born.  
"You don't have to be anymore." Loki carried him over his shoulder and followed his directions back to where Jormun and Hela stayed hidden.  
Jormun was softer of heart and threw himself into his Father's arms clinging tightly to him.  
"I said you would come for us." he wept.  
Loki wiped his second sons tears and told him of course he would've always searched for them all.  
In the corner Hela eyed the newcomer shyly, she didn't know who this red haired man was holding her brothers in his arms.  
"Hela, our Father is here." Feni held his hand out towards the little girl who toddled unsteadily towards her brothers hand.  
That night all three slept curled around their Father as though they were frightened he'd leave them.   
Loki silently vowed to keep them safe.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The goblet crashed against the wall as the hapless servant boy cowered. Odin shouted in anger before his court as Baldr kept his face blank.  
A few cups of strong wine and a few more sly whispers in the All-Fathers ear soon had him acting irrationally, it was becoming a nightly occurrence.  
The palace grew tight with tension. All knew once Odin's anger grew anyone could be thrown before him and accused of anything that took his fancy.  
Lady Sif pursed her lips as Odin ranted at length to his court. Baldr was quick to catch her disdain of what she was witnessing.  
Thor had told her of his plan to stand with Loki against the madness of Odin and the manipulative Baldr.   
Sif waited till the old King finally sat back at his throne and made a swift departure from the hall.

She almost made it back to her dwelling, she heard the foot steps quickening their pace behind her.  
"Halt." a familiar voice called.   
Sif turned to face Baldr who already had his hand upon his blade.   
"Baldr." Sif said evenly, she was prepared to do battle if it should come to it.  
"Ah..Sif. So often in the shadows with your lover gone." Baldr taunted her.  
"I see you are hoping I will react to such a poor goading. You're mistaken, I would not lower myself." Sif smiled while waiting for Baldr to strike.  
"But you do not deny that Thor is your beloved?" he pushed.  
"My beloved? Perhaps. My lover? No." Sif shrugged, it was the truth.  
"Yet there is nothing to stop me suggesting that the Lady Sif knows of his whereabouts to Odin. Sleep well my lady..." Baldr turned on his heel leaving Sif alone.  
She was no fool, the threat was obvious.   
Sif slipped out of the palace that night to shelter elsewhere.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Loki packed away the meagre possessions that Angrboda had given the children. It shamed him to see them living as such.   
He knew he had to tell them of Thor and Maera before they returned to the hut. He'd spent three days with his children now, he wanted to return before winter truly settled around them.   
Loki gathered them up to tell them, there was no promise they would take it well. Their sweet trusting faces waited to hear him speak.  
"When we leave, I have two companions you shall meet. You will know of Thor." Loki watched as the boys eyes grew wide, Feni held his sister's hand protectively.  
"He killed our mother." Jormun hissed. In that moment Loki saw a flash of Angrboda pass in his younger sons expression.   
"He was under the orders of the All-Father. I need not tell you that he had to do as he was bid. You will find him sorrowful of the part he played in your Mother's passing." Loki thought he had to keep it simple for them, he was mistaken.  
"I hate the All-Father. Mother said he was a sickness on the Aesir, his blood was tainted by madness, cruelty and jealousy." Feni spoke as though he was years older.  
"Your Mother was right. A wiser woman I have yet to meet." Loki meant it.  
"Who else?" Feni asked.

Loki shifted, it was not easy to explain Maera.  
"My friend Maera." he told them with what he hoped was an end to the conversation.  
"A lady?" Jormun asked him with a tug on his tunic.  
"Yes a lady, well, not quite a lady.." Loki found his silvertongue was of no use.  
"Father is she a warrior or a witch? Mother was both." Feni said proudly.  
"She...she is a..well I'm helping her." Loki offered lamely.  
"Is she hurt?" Jormun asked him.  
"Er, yes." Loki replied. The boys wouldn't let it drop till he told them of how she was hurt.

"Well someone gave her half an apple of Idunn you see. Now she is part goddess but she needs me to teach her how to be a true goddess." Loki left out it was he who'd done such a thing.  
"How can you teach her to be a goddess Father?" Feni pulled a quizzical look. Loki had been more than a goddess a few times himself but now was not the time to explain such things.  
"Mother always said you should never mess with Idunn's apples." Jormun added.  
"And once again your Mother did teach you well." Loki swallowed, even his children wouldn't play with Idunn's apples. He'd been truly reckless.  
"Come along my children." Loki picked up Hela and dodged further questioning as he prepared to take flight.  
"Wrap tightly on each of my legs." Loki told them before soaring upwards into the clear skies.  
All three children squealed with laughter as their Father whisked them away from their hiding place.


	12. Twelve

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The trickster returns with his brood but is he forgiven?

Maera had thought on nothing but Loki's return. Her friendship had grown with the thunder God, she found Thor's nature mostly agreeable.   
He was loud and occasionally funny, he took her mind off her worries.  
They made meals and spoke of many things, yet he was not Loki. She missed the trickster.   
So when the hut door crashed open she was unable to stop herself leaping up with hope that Loki had returned.   
And return he did, with his three children stood wrapped around his lean legs as though they would never let him go.  
Maera looked at their suspicious faces, their eyes wide with child like fear of this new situation.

"Hello." Maera knelt down to greet them. They were unusual and most definitely Loki's kin.   
"I'm Maera." she added looking at their grubby clothes and faces.  
"If you are hungry there's barley broth."   
The littlest one stepped away first, her small hands reaching for Maera.   
Loki watched as Maera took his daughters hand and held her arm out for the boys who slipped away from him to be embraced.  
They had sorely missed a Mother's love in his absence and though Maera was no replacement he knew too well how a lonely child's mind works.  
He remembered slipping into Frigga's arms when he was a boy, after Odin had used him he would always hear the door open to his room and Frigga would whisper soothing enchantments to him till he slept.   
He snapped out of his thoughts to the sound of his children eating greedily.   
"Thor, will you accompany me?" Loki asked of the warrior who stood out of the way of his wary children.  
"I would." Thor stated.  
They both left before Maera could voice any protest.

They didn't return and Maera found herself keeping the three children fed and entertained quite the task. Finally they grew wearied and she tucked them into the palette bed before settling down for a cup of ale.  
How could these sweet faced boys be the monsters she'd been warned of? They were rascals through and through but monsters?   
"What are you looking at?" Feni grinned and opened an eye.  
"A smelly child." Maera shot back at him.  
He giggled and turned over.  
"You're smellier." he whispered.  
"I heard that." Maera tutted.  
"Good." he tried to stop himself from laughing.  
"Pardon?" Maera pretended to be stern.  
"Good night." Feni added.  
"That's what I thought." Maera sighed, he was a cheeky child.   
Obviously he inherited much off his Father.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The troll village of Hogsborin was hidden to the mortal eye, it was a large gathering of longhouses near a lake, not far from it stretched out a good sized forest.  
Thor sat outside of the largest longhouse as Loki went inside and ruined the annual tribal feast.  
"You are not welcome here Loki of Jotunheim." an elder troll had spoken up as Loki stalked the length of their table to stand before the head of the tribe.  
"I'm not welcome anywhere." Loki said with a shrug.  
He cared not one bit.  
"Daldheg." Loki looked at the portly troll who scowled at this interruption.  
"Loki." Daldheg replied sourly.  
"I'm here to get what is owed." Loki asserted.  
"Can't it wait?" Daldheg asked, his voice was tinged with annoyance.  
"You've had years you fat milksop! Outside your door stands the mighty Thor. Should I give the signal he will strike his hammer and leave your village a ruin if you so wish." Loki stamped his foot down on the table causing it to creak then break clean in half. He landed gracefully on the ground as the trolls found themselves showered in drinks and food, they shouted curses while he rolled his eyes.  
"Enough!" Daldheg roared at his people. "Get out all of you!"  
Thor smirked as one by one the entire village walked by him muttering under their breath.  
Loki had made fine chaos.

"You ask much." Daldheg sulked as Loki called in his favour.  
"Much? May I remind you that the only reason that you can call yourself head of your tribe is thanks to my generous help many years ago. I got rid of Tald the Brave for you." Loki had slain the troll warrior with ease and never called in his payment.  
"Even so, it has been a lifetime. Why now?" Daldheg was wary of the trickster.  
"It is owed." Thor chipped in.  
"Very well." Daldheg knew he had no choice but to honour his debts.  
"I would have your men build my home, I wish it to be much like yours." Loki said.  
"A tall order, we need stone." the troll rubbed his chin as though he was thinking.  
"I assure I can provide enough stone and wood." Thor lifted his hammer proudly.  
"Then I can round them up for first light." Daldheg agreed.  
"Not soon enough. Myself and Thor can began now, with our skills and your men's help we can be finished by first light." Loki was eager to get it over with and settled.  
"If..if you will be living within our village then I must ask you to abide by our customs." Daldheg began but Loki shushed him.  
"We will live further toward the forest, we will cause you no trouble." Loki promised.  
"You will hardly feel our presence." Thor added. Daldheg was not convinced but he made good on his favour.

 

The house was completed just before the sun rose between the icy mountain peaks.  
It was spacious, warm and after Loki wove his magic it was truly safe.  
Thor gave Loki a warm pat on his shoulder as the trollsmen downed their tools.  
"I thank you for your help." Loki smiled his sly grin.  
"Tell your women to bring us blankets and pots." he called to the trolls.  
By early morning the house was ready for his children and Maera. Loki set up his enchanted furniture pieces and left Thor roasting a good sized goat.  
He felt accomplished. Things would be better now, he was hidden from Odin, he had his children and Thor was on his side.  
Now all he had to do was see if Maera would stay with him for winter or if she would stay at all.

 

"Father!" Jormun yelled when Loki walked in. He found himself rushed at by the three small figures, they shouted and pawed at him excitedly.  
"Cease you little rats!" Loki laughed throwing them over his shoulders. They squealed when he tickled them.  
"I have a surprise for you but first I need you to do something for me." Loki plopped them each on the palette bed.   
"Stay here and wait and you'll each get a sweetbun." he had to bribe them to make them settle.  
"Will you be gone long?" Feni asked, Loki could hear the worry in his sons voice.  
"Nay, but a few moments. I'm not leaving you, I have a surprise." Loki mussed Feni's hair.  
Loki looked over to where Maera sat, she had said nothing since his return.  
"Maera?" Loki waited near the door.  
Without a word she followed him outside.

"Nothing I say would make it right." Loki rounded on Maera as soon as they were a good distance from the hut.  
"I agree. Not one word from your sly lying lips would ever make it right." Maera leant with her back against a tree while Loki crouched down. His eyes focused on the tree roots and he frowned.  
"You're a liar. A spiteful creature who delights in people's misery. I find it almost funny that you who has suffered so would still think naught of treating others as poorly as you do. Our bargain was just a trick, you fooled me." Maera spoke calmly.  
She'd had time to mull it over, she'd thought of how her life truly would be if Loki hadn't answered her crying. The women in her village birthed babes and grew old before their time, their only joy was to repeat tired old stories to each other.  
Tobin had been taken by her sisters beauty as soon as she'd blossomed, when Maera thought on that it opened her eyes. He was not worth her tears, he'd never even been worth her time.  
"It's my nature." was all Loki said   
"Once winter is over I would have you take me back." Maera saw the flames dance in Loki's eyes.  
"If that is what you wish." he pursed his scarred lips.  
"To say goodbye to my family." Maera continued.  
Loki let her words sink in and grinned.  
"I have nothing to really go back too." she picked up her skirts and made to walk away.  
"Does it sadden you Maera?" Loki reached out and took her arm, his grip was possessive.  
"It matters not. I'd be sad if I stayed too. It's done." She exhaled to stop her tears from falling.  
Loki ran his thumb along her lower lip, he was shamed at the pain he saw in her. He would take it away if he could yet magic like that was never permanent.  
"I'm sorry." and Maera knew this was no lie as he said it to her.  
"I know." she felt the truth of his apology.  
What was done was done.   
She pushed the long strands of his hair away from his face.   
"You are forgiven fox." Maera took his hand and gave it a squeeze.  
Loki rarely felt overwhelmed but in that moment a flurry of emotions made him go silent.  
He didn't trust himself to speak.

 

He brought his lips to hers, each kiss he gave her was more demanding and possessive till Maera drew away to take a breath.  
"You're mine." Loki whispered against her ear making her shiver.  
In the blink of an eye he had them both naked, his teeth nipping at her skin.  
Maera chuckled as he roughly pushed her legs apart, he was wild with lust.  
"What is it about you?" he growled.  
He cupped her quim and found it pleasingly wet, he rubbed his cock against her folds then sank into her heat.  
Loki took her hard, the way he claimed her was violent.  
All the emotions he felt he put into his deep hard strokes, Maera was silenced by his hand over her mouth. She bit his palm hard each time he rammed his length to the hilt.  
They rolled over on the cold ground till he was underneath her, Maera rode him no less gently, each satisfying smack of flesh spurred her on.  
Loki held her hips to keep the punishing rhythm they'd set, he grunted and clenched his jaw as she held his hungry stare.  
"Hit me." he snapped at her.  
Maera slapped his cheek, the sting was exciting.  
"Harder!" Loki snarled.  
Maera lashed out so hard that his lip split. She was unable to stop the waves of her satisfaction crashing over her.   
"Yes..cry out for me..yes.." Loki came hard as Maera yanked at his hair. His back arched as spilled himself inside her.   
Afterwards he drew her into his arms and stroked his fingers down her back, neither of them spoke.

Once dressed they made their way back to the hut to find his children pretending they hadn't moved off the bed.  
Feni sniffed the air.  
"I can smell blood..see I told you Jormun." he said to his younger brother.  
Loki hid his smile as Maera blushed.  
"I accidentally hit your Father." Maera lied.  
"Mother used to hit Father on accident all the time." Jormun broke in over his brother.  
"All the time." Feni agreed.  
Loki turned away so they wouldn't see his quiet laughter.  
"He must be very clumsy you know." Jormun went on.   
Maera found a smile playing on her lips as the children wittered on.  
"Oh look, three sweetbuns for three rascals!" Loki silenced them with the sweet treats as Maera sighed with relief.  
"Eat up, you've still got to see your surprise." Loki told them.  
They ate quickly and started playing around again till it was time to set off.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"All yours." Loki told the awestruck children as they saw their new home for the first time.  
"Ours?!" Feni yelled happily.  
The longhouse looked truly impressive from the outside and the boys ran laughing towards it as Hela toddled behind.  
Loki watched his children pause at the door before they followed Feni inside.  
"He's brave." Maera said with a smile.  
"He's had to be." Loki felt proud of his little wolf.  
The early evening sky was lit pale pink and the smoke rose from the longhouses nearby as their wood fires burned away the winter chill.  
It reminded Maera of home.


	13. Thirteen.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sorry it's been a while since I last updated this one.   
> A winter passes and what will spring bring? Loki might not be prepared for what is coming...  
> Slight angst as his children learn of his and Maera's relationship and a wee bit of love making too. ;)

The beetle crawled up her leg and caused Maera to hitch her breath, this was how Loki came to her at night.  
After he spent his days with his children and Thor this was when Loki would truly unwind, once the embers of fire died down and the soft snoring started up he would take the shape of a beetle and seek out his lover.

He circled the hardened peak of her nipple and allowed himself to grow back to size, his red hair falling over her as they kissed and then his weight would settle over her.  
She held nothing back from him in the darkness, her thighs wide and the welcoming clasp of her ankles in the small of his back as he took her.  
"Do you grow weary of me?" he asked her as his fingertips traced over her belly.  
Maera looked away to hide her grin, his little game had begun.

"Not yet." she replied. 'Not ever.' she didn't say but the way his scarred lips broke into a smile told Maera he knew.  
"You will." he warned her.  
"How could I grow weary of the Father of mischief? The bringer of fire.." Maera pushed him onto his back and straddled him.   
Looking down on him he was the most beautiful creature she'd laid eyes on. Loki cupped her breasts in his hands, squeezing the soft flesh appreciatively.  
"You bring fire...and blood..and lust." each word was followed by a circle of her hips as she sank down on his hardness, a maddening spiral causing Loki to throw back his head and moan. His hips bucked upwards, he wanted to drive himself into her fully.

Now it was Maera's turn to keen as he held her hips and brought her down for three possessive thrusts then he had her on her back again.  
"I make the fire run in your veins, the heat dance in your belly when you lie with me. This gift I gave to all of mankind..I gave you this pleasure." Loki growled while pinning her arms down.  
"I gave you the words to use to seduce and flatter, the words to bring joy..never forget it is I who allows you the freedom of your desires."   
Maera found her voice cracked as she said his name.  
They clung to each other and reached their frenzied peak together, curses and moans swallowed by their kisses. 

Afterwards when she slept nestled against him he would wonder if they were truly safe, he kept his worries away from his children and Maera.   
Loki was no fool, he would discuss his concerns with Thor when they were sure they could not be heard.  
The thunder God was of the same opinion, they were safe for now but only time would tell if they remained so.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Hela! Hela! She can fly!" Maera laughed as she held the small girl above her head.  
With her arms outstretched Hela would make the sounds of a bird while they all laughed at her little face.  
Her brothers would dance a little jig around the fire following Maera as she swooshed Hela around.  
Loki and Thor would always turn up with a decent offering from the hunt and so winter passed in a simple but pleasant way.  
The trolls left them alone and Loki played none of his tricks on them. He craved to trick them but the fear of Odin hearing of any such tricks kept him from doing so.

Thor earned the trust of the boys and soon an easy companionship was struck up between him and Jormun.  
The young boy would ask him tales of battles and whittle sticks with him while Thor would tells him of his victories and defeats. 

Feni was different, a wild streak ran through him and though he meant no harm he would play pranks on Maera or the troll women.  
Frogs in their drinks or stealing their clothes to throw in the lake were just a few of the ideas his young mind would come up with.  
Eventually after weeks of his behaviour Maera snapped and ordered him to sit on the stool and face the wall.  
He threw a pot of broth on the floor and fled the longhouse in tears.  
"I will get him." Loki rose from his seat but from the dark look playing across his face Maera shook her head.  
"Nay, I will." Maera told him.  
Jormun as good as ever began to clean up the shattered pot while Loki wondered if it was perhaps time to come clean to his children.  
He would tell them the truth when Feni and Maera returned.

"Feni?!" Feni?" Maera called out, an echo of her voice mocked her. The snow had fallen deep within the forest and the ice had yet to thaw from the mountain peaks.  
Maera knew Feni could hide and survive the cold but it wasn't right to let a small boy stay out in these conditions.  
'He's not just a small boy, he could eat you whole.' she thought with some alarm.  
"Feni please come home!" She begged while hoping he would hear.  
"No!" a voice snapped back.  
From behind a rock the boy stepped out with a trembling lower lip.  
"Feni you had me worried, your Father is expecting you back home tonight." Maera took a step towards him but he backed away.  
"Why should you care? You're not my Mother! And he...he left us!" Feni shouted and smacked his chest.   
'Lokisson.' she thought and smirked as he did what his Father would do.  
"He's sorry for that and he has told you as such many times over. Come home, you can have a sweetbun and we can tell stories." Maera carefully inched closer to him.  
"Father loves you." Feni looked her dead in the eye and made Maera still.  
She could say otherwise but what would she gain from lying.  
"And I love him." she told Feni.  
"I know. He thinks me stupid, I can smell and I can hear." Tears spilled from his eyes and he bowed his head.  
Maera had to handle this delicately, the boy was confused and sad.  
"I'm sorry Feni, we should've told you. As the oldest son we should have been honest. Can you forgive me little wolf?" Maera knelt and held her arm out in same way she had when they'd first met. He hesitated then then threw himself into her arms.  
Maera shushed him and held him tightly while he cried his rage out. This little one was full of fire and needed more care, she would try harder with him.

When they returned to the longhouse the others were already in bed, only Loki sat by the embers of the fire as Maera walked in holding his sons hand.  
Maera spooned Feni out a bowl of broth then retired to bed.  
Loki would take it from here.  
She flashed him a look to urge him to be kind before she settled down.

Feni ate greedily and made to leave the table but Loki motioned for him to stay put.  
"You worried me tonight." Loki kept his voice low.  
"Sorry Father." Feni murmured, he rubbed his tired eyes and looked over to where his bed was.  
"Are you? I think you wish to tell me that I have no place to be worried as I left you time and time again. If that is so then I will hear it now my son." Loki said sternly.  
"Why did you say Maera was just your friend?" Feni blurted out.  
Not often was Loki caught off guard but in that moment he struggled to find the words.  
"She told me she loves you and I know you love her." Feni went on.  
Loki shifted in his seat and gave a slight nod.  
"I do love her." Loki said. He wasn't going to lie about that.  
"More than you loved Mother?" Feni demanded.  
"I loved your Mother wholly but you cannot ask me to compare the woman who bore my children to the woman I now love. When you are grown you will understand what I mean. You will love many times over and each shall be different from the last." Loki smiled sadly as a memory of Angrboda came to him.  
She wore a light wrap and not much else, her belly swollen with the child who now sat before him.  
"Please no more pranks on Maera." Loki gently pleaded with his son.  
"Alright. I won't anymore." Feni promised.  
"Get to bed."   
Feni did as he was told for once. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The kiss of Spring begun and Loki felt an itch to wander. He ignored it and grew irritable as each day passed in the new routine. He hid his moods but Maera was quick to pick up on them.  
"What ails your sour face?" She teased.  
"My legs ache to wander but I know I cannot." he grumbled.  
"Then you can take me home as you promised." Maera quirked an eyebrow.  
"Very well." Loki sprang to his feet.  
He was already relishing the idea of an adventure away from the peace and tranquility of their home.  
"Well not now Loki! We have to tell the children and make sure Thor is willing to watch them." Maera laughed at his eagerness.  
"You are right. I will pack my bag." Loki wanted to be ready for their journey. He emptied the contents of his bag on the ground and pondered on what to take.  
A pained yelp from out the door distracted him and he stuck his head put to tell his boys off for playing to roughly.

In that time little Hela picked up the small leather pouch and took it outside to see if it held any treats. Two apple seeds landed in her little palm and she puffed her cheeks with disappointment.  
She tossed them to the floor and joined her brothers. As the first drops of rain fell one seed was swept away in a tiny rivulet down to the stream, the queen of the barren lands would never be heard from again.   
The other seed glinted with a tinge of gold and took root after a few hours of rain.   
While Loki was preoccupied with the idea of his travels he failed to notice the magic at work outside.  
Green and unsteady on her feet Idunn found herself revived, she spied on the trickster with distaste before fleeing on foot. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

At her call to the skies she was welcomed back to Asgard with news for the All-Father.


	14. Fourteen

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Loki finds himself itching to move on but is it too little too late as Baldr and Lady Sif arrive to escort him, Thor, his children and Maera back to Asgard?

Baldr couldn't contain his joy at the news Lady Idunn had brought before Odin and the court of Asgard.   
The trickster and Thor had been named as traitors as Odin roared his commands to his men.  
"I want them brought back here! All of them." he banged his staff Gungnir on the golden floor causing many to flinch.  
"It would be an honour to do so All-Father." Baldr said with a cold smirk. 

Lady Sif appeared outwardly calm before she stepped forward "I would ask you to grant me permission to bring them back to face your good judgement my King."   
A few courtiers hissed in a breath at Lady Sif's boldness, to interrupt the All-Father was both brave and foolish.  
Sif felt she might have overstepped the mark but she had to act swiftly and appeal to Odin's better nature if he indeed had any goodness left in him he'd allow her to accompany Baldr.  
"You are a wise and good leader my King. If I know Thor then he will come home to face you..his father. I would speak with him, I believe him to be lost..." Sif found herself stumbling over her words under Odin's steely one eyed glare.  
"Very well. You may take the journey with Baldr and his men."   
Now it was Baldr who voiced his complaints.  
"Enough! My mind has been made up, you will bring them back alive. All of them..do I make myself clear? If you harm what is mine." Odin kept his voice low and menacing.  
In that moment Sif wasn't so sure he meant his son more the red haired prize that was Loki. She looked away suddenly very uncomfortable.  
Baldr bowed and stormed out of court cursing under his breath.

 

"You ride with real warriors this night Lady Sif." Baldr snapped as she saddled up and waited for the gate to Midgard to open.  
Heimdall was no longer the watcher but his son now sat in his place, a young boy with a timidness that would do him no favours as he grew.  
"We'll see." Sif replied evenly.  
She had to keep her nerve, her only plan was to appeal with Thor and Loki. She didn't trust the sly Baldr, at least if she was around there was a chance of no bloodshed and if it should come to that then she would do as a warrior must.  
The pathway to Midgard came to view and in a crack of blue lightening they disappeared.

Loki was didn't feel right. Ever since he'd had the wanderlust he couldn't help but feel something chaotic was edging ever nearer.  
He made a snap decision to bring along his children and Thor on the journey back to Maera's village.  
Once it was settled they decided on one more night in the longhouse. Thor packed up his weapons and had loaned horses off the trolls.  
They ate their supper by candlelight as the children bounced about with excitement at the prospect of an adventure.  
Loki kept his fears to himself, it wouldn't do to scare anyone least of all his children and anyway by first light they'd be gone from here and from the niggling worries he hid.

Wrapped up in Maera's arms he finally slept but sleep hadn't come easy to him.  
A piercing crackle overheard had him leaping to his feet as though he knew what was coming. As he urged the children and Maera up he found Thor stood with his hammer at the ready.  
"Loki." He nodded towards the door of the longhouse.  
Baldr and the Lady Sif were flanked by Asgardian soldiers.   
Fear ran through Loki, hadn't he always kept his children shielded from this? It was his main reason for leaving them be with Angrboda.   
His worst fears paralysed him and Thor sensed this. "Fear not." he spoke, his voice giving no hint of what he was poised to do.  
"Come out son of Odin." Baldr called.  
Thor stepped out to stare them down, he felt disappointed to see Lady Sif with the riders yet if he knew his old friend well then she might be hiding her true reason in being here.

"Well, well, the mighty Thor hiding away with the trickster." Baldr shook his head and laughed.  
"What do you want?" Thor was in no mood for idle chatter.   
"The All-Father demands you return to Asgard along with the Jotun and his children." Baldr got off his horse and swaggered over to Thor.  
"Loki wishes not to return and nor do I for that matter, Asgard is run by snakes." Thor spat on the ground near Baldr's feet. The insult was clear.  
"Be that as it may I am doing what the All-Father requires so we can go civilly or would you rather this be unpleasant?" Baldr removed his riding gloves and waited for a reply.  
Thor looked over to Lady Sif who kept her hand on her blade and her eyes on Baldr.  
"We should speak with Loki first." Thor grunted.  
"Yes..I think we should. Baldr said smoothly, his voice already sounded like that of a victor. He would return to Asgard hailed as a hero who brought the traitorous son and the trickster God back to face their punishment.

"You must listen to me now, do not speak, do not do a thing unless I tell you." Loki looked at the three children huddled together around Maera and turned back to face Thor as Baldr pushed past.  
"I see you've landed on your feet Loki." Baldr laughed darkly as he took in the humble surroundings of the longhouse.  
"And to what do we owe the pleasure?" Loki spoke coolly.  
"I think we both know why I'm here." Baldr said with a grin that revealed too many teeth. Loki had an urge to strike him and knock all of Baldr's teeth out.

"I am not for returning." Loki replied with a shrug.  
"You don't have a choice Loki!" Baldr shot back.  
"In that you find yourself wrong as I always have a choice." Loki stood in front of his children and swept his gaze contemptuously over Baldr.  
"You didn't have much of a choice when the All-Father took you to his bed." Baldr crowed. The blood rushed in Loki's ears as he fought the insult down, the fact Baldr had said such a thing in front of his children made him want to tear Baldr apart.  
"Bastard!" Thor roared at Baldr and raised his hammer threateningly.  
"Close your gibbering mouth oaf!" Baldr gave a roll of his eyes as though the thought of having his head smashed in was laughable.  
"My order is to bring you back alive...but Odin knows the ways of a battle and there are always those who fall." Baldr looked at the children who huddled in the young woman's arms. His threat was not missed by Thor or Loki.  
"Is this your new whore? What is this one? Witch? Goddess?" Baldr taunted. He looked over Maera and chuckled darkly. "A midgardian?"  
The way he said it was so insulting that Loki lunged at him.

Knocking Baldr off his feet Loki gripped him at his neck and held his fist over Baldr's face.  
Lady Sif intervened and pulled Loki off Baldr before he did anything truly stupid.  
Baldr staggered to his feet while gasping for breath, he was livid at being shamed in front of his men.  
"You..you may as well lay with a goat, not that you probably haven't. You're a deviant!" Baldr croaked at Loki.  
"Enough of your wicked words!" Sif shouted at Baldr.   
"Papa.." Hela started to wail for Loki.  
He had to think, if they battled now then his children might get hurt but if they went to Asgard then he had time to think and to plot his way out of Odin's clutches.  
"You would stand with me?" he asked Thor.  
"Aye, I swore my oath." Thor wouldn't turn on his friend.  
"Then we must go to face the All-father." Loki bent and scooped his daughter up in his arms, she grabbed at his braids and held him tight.  
He looked glanced at Maera who held his sons in a protective embrace and hope swelled within him.  
Loki would save them all...


	15. Fifteen

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Not exactly a welcoming homecoming for Loki. This chapter and the next are quite difficult to really explain. There's a lot of sadness for now.

The pathways were filled with what seemed to be every citizen of Asgard. The jeers rang out at Loki yet he held his head high as went by on the horse with Hela still clinging to him. Thor wasn't too far behind with the cries of "Traitor!" yelled at him, he cared not.  
Lady Sif kept her eyes ahead on the horse that Maera sat on with Loki's sons.  
They covered their ears and kept their eyes tightly shut while Maera hugged them as best she could. Maera was as petrified as they were.  
Why had Loki told her not to do anything? She had her blade wrapped and tucked in her apron pocket, she was no fool and had a feeling it would come in handy soon enough.  
It was a shameful scene and it showed such a lack of respect for all involved.  
Only Baldr seemed at ease, waving back at the crowd as he revelled in the praises shouted his way. 

"Walk!" Baldr ordered as they dismounted off the horses. The little group stuck together and made their way to the court of Odin. Guards flanked them through the palace, now it was the Aesir who jeered them. The gods and goddess of Asgard behaved no different to the roaring crowd of the citadel. It was as if Odin's madness infected them, a slow drip down that turned families and old friends against each other. Better to agree then to be branded a traitor, few truly agreed but none would say. Odin stood near his throne with his one eye trained on Loki.  
Never one to shy away from his worst tormentor Loki handed Hela to Thor and swaggered up to the first step.

"Did you miss me?" Loki asked, he pretended to examine his nails with a bored expression. A collective gasp went up through the court but Maera knew this was Loki's way of appearing to have the upper hand. He was frightened but hid it well.  
"Wretched boy!" Odin growled.  
Loki rolled his eyes as Odin aimed Gungnir at him, the All-Father was angry but not angry enough to kill his Loki.  
"Take the rest of them to the holds. As for you? You will come with me." he hissed.  
"That I won't. Not until you swear no harm will come to them." Loki turned to see Thor stood protectively near his children.   
"You have my word." Odin said tightly.  
Loki knew Thor would never break his oath and so he went with Odin.

Once away from the prying eyes of the court Odin rounded on Loki with a vicious blow that sent him reeling. He'd had suffered worse in his time off the All-Father and decided a tooth cracking punch wasn't so bad. Loki got to his feet and dusted himself down.  
"You infuriating whoreson!" Odin grabbed a handful of Loki's hair and dragged him over to the bed.  
Bile rose in his throat, he would've fought Odin off but the thought of his children and Maera kept him pliant. 

Loki stayed silent throughout, his eyes tightly shut from the reality of his situation.  
When it was over he pulled his breeches back up and looked at the old God stood with his still around his ankles, he could easily kill him he thought.  
"Will there be anything else?" Loki asked coldly.  
"Do you value your children's lives? Do you value my son's life? Or even dare I say that midgardian rat?" Odin's tongue was vicious. Loki flinched at his words.  
"I need not say it for you already know." was all he managed.  
He wanted to cut his head off and parade it before the Aesir but he had to tread carefully.  
"Then you will hear what your King has decreed for you." Odin smiled darkly.  
Loki shrugged, his calmness was an act he'd perfected over the centuries. He would think of a way to get them out of this. 

 

"If you agree then they shall live but if you disagree then I shall make them suffer." Odin sipped his mead and stared across the large oak table as Loki read over the parchment.  
"I would rather die then go along with this." he kept his temper even though it threatened to erupt.  
"This is how I hold you for I will see to it that you won't die but that they will, I would have you watch as their life blood drains. You will agree to this or I will have them dead this night." Odin smashed his fist on the table.  
Loki shook his head. This couldn't be happening, he vowed to keep them safe and now their lives hung in the balance. One word from Odin would set it in motion.  
"How old are your boys now? The red haired one is much like you I see." Odin's meaning was obvious, Loki couldn't let that happen to them.  
He took the quill and signed his mark, his heart plummeted but this was the only way for now. They would hate him...

As soon as he'd signed Odin called for the guards and Loki found himself chained to the wall in Odin's quarters. He would try to slip out the first chance he got but for now he would play at falling in line.

Thor was brought before his Father's throne later that night. He couldn't believe what he was hearing from the All-Father.  
"You are a cruel and vicious old man." Thor could barely meet his Father's stare.  
"Go now son, I forgive you your folly. One day you will understand when you take the throne and rule Asgard that I did what needed to be for the good of my people." Odin gave a nod as Baldr cheered alone.  
"That is a lie and you know it...Asgard can burn for all I care. Let the bastard rule after you for I wish to have no part in your twisted plans." without waiting to be dismissed Thor left the hall.

Sif followed him, she caught up with him before he came to his rooms.  
"Are you happy?" he snapped at her. He still couldn't believe she'd escorted them to face the All-Father's wrath.  
"No! I came to make sure no ill intent befell you and Loki. Your Father is not fit to rule." Sif kept her voice low and cast a look around to make sure no one was listening to them.   
"This I know to be true." Thor replied.  
"Then we must do what a warrior must." Sif told him. Her eyes were sorrowful as she spoke. This would go against all they had been taught, to protect the All-Father at all costs. They were casting aside that oath now as they stood huddled against each other in the doorway to Thor's rooms.  
"For Asgard." Thor grabbed Sif's hand.  
"For Loki." Sif finished before she felt her lips claimed by the thunder God.

"Will Father come for us?" Jormun asked as Maera smoothed his hair down. The dungeon room was plain white, a mess of blankets and a simple chamber pot was all they had.   
"We shall see." was her reply.  
"So no then!" Feni chimed in.  
"I have no answers little wolf but I'm here and I'll look after you." she felt the air squeezed out of her as Feni hugged her. He was a frighteningly strong child, his fear made him more so.  
Hela slept among the blankets blissfully unaware of her surroundings, the journey had took its toll on her.  
"Come on, let's try to sleep. I'll tell you a story." Maera offered hoping it would distract them from their current predicament.  
None of them slept too well.

 

By dawn Maera awoke at sound of tapping against the magic force that kept them locked in the dungeon. She was surprised to see the Lady Sif stood there, Sif held a finger up to her lips and beckoned Maera forward.  
Maera untangled herself from the blankets and the children as carefully as she could.  
"Listen, I wish not to have to repeat myself. Loki has been ordered to marry the Lady Sigyn and in doing so you and his children get to live, you will be escorted down to Midgard and left alone. If Loki should refuse then he will be forced to watch them die before you meet the same fate. There is very little we can do now but we are not beaten yet. Go along with this and I give you my word that myself and Thor will put it right in time." Sif turned and left Maera stood feeling as though her heart had been pulled from her chest.  
She slumped to the ground.

 

The day of their release came the day after Loki's wedding to Sigyn. A sombre event that had been. Loki sat beside his new wife as Maera and his children were brought before Odin. Loki wanted to scream, to smash the palace apart with his bare hands but that would come in time. They would all pay for this.  
"You are free to go back to wherever you dwell." Odin banged his staff on the ground and sat back on his throne dismissively.  
"Father?" Jormun waved over to where Loki was sat with Sigyn.  
"Oh no..dear boy. Your Father stays here where he belongs." Odin said sharply.  
Loki watched his son's face fall at the All-Father's words. Maera bowed her head and whispered something Loki could only assume was comforting to Jormun as his son straightened and looked ahead. Feni held Hela and refused to even look in his Father's direction. He felt his very being splintering with pain at what he was seeing but better this than the other option.   
"Take them back to their home." Odin ordered.   
Maera caught Loki's eye just before she left, her lack of emotion winded him. He fought to regain his composure, shifting in his seat he tried to appear unconcerned.   
If he wanted to get through this then he had to stick to appearing controlled.  
He would make them dance in their own blood for this before his flames would consume them. He smiled sharp and brittle, his new wife couldn't hide her disgust.

Baldr drank his mead and told his story of how he rounded up the traitors for another night. The lady Idunn had found herself offered up as his betrothed.  
To frightened to voice her distaste to Baldr she had quietly appealed to the All-Father who denied her request.  
"The saviours of Asgard." Odin had called them. She had no idea her fate upon returning would be as mere chattel, a shiny prize for Baldr to accept with a leer.  
Loki might've tricked her and turned her into a seed but hadn't she started on him first? This all seemed so unfair to Idunn. Why should she have to suffer? 

It was Lady Sif who gave her an answer to that in the bathing rooms.  
Sif wrung her hair out as Idunn bemoaned her lot.  
"You reap what you sow my Lady, had you not dallied with Loki in the first place then you would not find yourself in such a bind." Sif mocked.  
"You have room to talk! He cut all your hair off or do you forget?" Idunn shot back.  
"Mere horseplay, he also risked his life to bring me back the fine hair I wear now." Sif shrugged.  
"Yet you do not deny you parted your thighs!" Idunn shouted in an attempt to shame Sif.  
"I do not, nor do I deny that I bore his son." Sif admitted.  
The other goddesses gasped and whispered between each other.  
"I do not deserve to be handed over as a gift." Idunn cried.  
"That I can agree but your motives in telling Odin brought that upon you. Had you played it with more care than this wouldn't be your fate." Sif pulled on her robe and made for the door.  
"I loved him Sif.." Idunn burst out.  
"I find it odd how those who claim to love him are the ones who hurt him the most." Sif left before anymore was to be said.

 

At their longhouse Maera cooked up a broth and soothed the children as best she could. Tears were never far from each of them.  
The price for their release had broken them. Maera wondered why Loki hadn't fought harder but when she looked at his children she understood. Fear had made him leave them time and time again but now he'd left them seemingly for good. Sending them from Odin's clutches he had paid a high price. She wouldn't leave them as long as her heart beat and the breath was in her lungs she would raise them as her own.  
As they ate in silence she hoped that Lady Sif's words were no empty promise.  
She would go and say goodbye to her family and then she would wait for news, surely they wouldn't leave her to wait too long?  
The next morning when the children finally awoke properly, their soft chatter making her smile she unwrapped the other half of her apple. Hope flared up in her chest.  
She cut it into four pieces...


	16. Sixteen

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Keeping in with his sometimes plain spiteful nature Loki shames Sigyn. Thor and Sif decide to bring him in with their plan to save Asgard.  
> Amidst all this you say farewell to one of the children. Sorry.

Maera served up a breakfast of porridge to the children. Each piece of the apple sat on a small plate Loki had made with the children, it was a fine red clay shaped and smoothed till you looked underneath and saw the names carved into the surface.  
"Where'd you get the apple from?" Feni was the first to ask and snatch at a piece.  
"Your father left me this half." Maera said.  
"Aah one of Idunn's then. If we take the seeds we can grown more." Feni grinned his wolfish smile.  
Up until then it hadn't occurred to Maera to plant such seeds but the thought of growing her own apples of immortality gave her a burst of excitement. The possibilities of owning such precious fruit made her dizzy.  
"Scallywag!" she grabbed Feni and kissed the top of his head. He laughed his full belly laugh so much like Loki's own.

"I don't know enough about them but from what I gather they will change us." Maera held the golden slice of apple up and sniffed, it had remained juicy and fresh despite months of being wrapped in a cloth.  
"Mother always warned us to be careful of such things." Jormun was ever the voice of reason.  
"And where's she now?" Feni growled.  
It was a harsh comeback that made Jormun bow his head.  
"Forgive me brother." Feni clapped his hand on Jormuns shoulder.  
"We mustn't fight between ourselves. It's just us now." Maera told them. She didn't want to give them even the slightest false hope Loki would come back for if he didn't then she would break their hearts a second time.

"All I know is Loki once told me it would change me." Maera placed the apple slice in her tongue and suckled. Confident it wasn't tainted she chewed then swallowed.  
Nothing happened so she wrapped up the three remaining pieces and tucked them away once more. Taking the seeds she went outside and let Feni dig with his hands, he buried them and Maera went to the lake to get the jug of water. On returning she found him peeing over the freshly turned soil with a wicked smirk on his lips.  
"Saved you the job." he said before running off through the long grass.  
Maera huffed and went inside to check on Jormun and Hela.

 

Spring turned to summer. The heat would raise off the ground and they'd swim in the lake then hunt as a group, catching fish and rabbits for their meals. On those humid nights when the thunder would roll over their house and lightening would flash their skies white Maera would hope Loki would come home to them and each morning she rose from an empty bed and the daily grind would begin once more.  
She hid her sadness and filled up her time with work and the children. She wouldn't take them to her village till she was sure they could make the journey unscathed.  
Autumn blew in with winds that chilled her skin as she set up rabbit traps. The apple seeds had grown into a small sapling tree that she carefully tended to, planting some of the old whittled sticks to stop it from snapping. Maera waited for it to produce something.  
When the snow and ice of winter came around she continued to keep up her care of the weak looking sapling.  
A year passed in this way, then another, then another.  
Still nothing.

The boys had grown bigger, Feni stood a head taller than Maera and he bubbled with that live energy his Father exuded.  
"I grow bored!" he exclaimed one day after he'd been caught sneaking in the troll's longhouses.  
"Then be more helpful, there's much that needs doing." Maera grumbled back.  
Hela tutted at her older brother and walked by with a pail of fresh goats milk.  
"Shut up you little weasel!" Feni thumbed his nose at his little sister.  
Maera sighed loudly, it was to be another one of those days.  
"Come look! Maera!" the sound of Jormun calling had them all rushing outside to see what was going on.  
"They've grown look!" he motioned to the small tree's branches that hung heavy with the golden fruit.  
It was like they'd appeared overnight, glinting in then soft light of late morning.  
"Eight!" Feni counted and clapped.  
Maera and Hela picked them and rushed back inside to hide them away with the other pieces.

Loki was finding life in Asgard much the same. He cared less about himself since he lost them, he took whatever Odin gave him and ignored Sigyn and her harping on about a child.  
They had yet to consummate their marriage, Loki would drink himself to a stupor and fall asleep in taverns and mead halls. He took to being outrageous once more to hide his true feelings.  
He had flogging and beatings and he took them with a smile that made the Aesir uncomfortable. Thor and Sif plotted by candlelight in hidden rooms, they hated seeing Loki this way but the taking down of a mad King required a lot of careful planning, anyone could overhear and then all would be lost.  
A small part of Thor hated that he was to betray his Father but deep down he knew this was the only option to hand now.

 

"Tell m..meee gatekeeper, are my children safe?" Loki slurred at the watcher.  
"They are." the watcher said smoothly.  
"May I see?" Loki spilled mead down his dirty tunic and tried to stare into the thread that the watcher looked at.  
"That is not wise Loki." the watcher gave him a little shove and Loki staggered away.  
"Is she?" he mumbled.  
"She is." the watcher assured the drunken God.  
"Is she happy? Has she a lover?" the mead bottle slipped from his grasp and broke on the ground.  
"No and no." the watcher replied truthfully.  
He burst into a peal of ugly laughter then left the watcher calling for a maid to clean the shattered pieces of glass up.

On the walk back to his rooms he vomited in the palace corridors without shame. Guards and courtiers shied away from him and his deranged ramblings. Finally he kicked the doors open to his rooms and took a long relieving piss on Sigyn's slippers. Sat up in her bed Sigyn yelled her horror at that act but Loki laughed and climbed into bed. As if her disgust for him wasn't enough he finished off with a loud uncouth fart that sent her scrambling out of bed cursing at him.  
"You vile piece!" Sigyn picked up her gowns and ran to the spare room, Loki chuckled as the sound of the bolt and lock rattled it shut.  
"Don't flatter yourself!" he called before passing out cold.

Hela woke up with a scream. Her dreams would awake her most nights and she'd climb into bed with Maera and sob till she would eventually fall into a fitful sleep.  
"What do you see?" Jormun whispered one morning when Maear was sweeping out the dirt.  
"I see Father and he cries for us. I see a lady who says she's our mother and she says I will rule the depths of hel. Then things go dark and there's so many of them..dead and they beg me for another chance at life but I cannot grant them that." Hela puffed out her cheeks, she was tired.  
"Will you come for a walk with me Jormun?" she asked hoping the fresh wind would make her feel awake.  
"Of course." Jormun offered his arm and told Maera they would be walking in the woods.  
"Stay together." Maera warned them both.  
"We will!" they called back in unison.

 

Sigyn fumed as she watched Loki dance with one of the lowly palace maids, she was not alone in her jealousy as Odin kept his eye on the way Loki would whisper suggestively into her ear at every available opportunity. It was scandalous to see.  
When they disappeared from the mead hall Sigyn knocked her wine back and decided to seek him out. He would not shame her this way before the Aesir.  
It didn't take long till she found him, the maid was knelt on her knees before him and worked her hand and mouth along his prick.  
"An expert I see." Loki leered down at the girl who tended to his hardness.  
"What are you doing!" Sigyn leapt out and charged towards them.  
With a muttered spell she found herself unable to move. She swore and tried to propel herself forward.  
"Continue." he chuckled to the maid who pulled his cock out of her mouth with a little smack of her lips.  
She took a breath and lapped under at his heavy sac, nuzzling in to smell his musky male scent.  
Sigyn shrieked at that vulgar display she was forced to witness.  
"Oh and in reply to your earlier question she's licking my balls. Freshly washed I might add." he winked at his wife who began to cry.  
"Come now Sigyn 'tis nothing." he taunted as he palmed himself.  
"Oh..oh..watch!" Loki gasped as he came over the maids open mouth. She licked her lips clean of his seed and stood while wiping her hand over her mouth.  
"Thank you my dove." Loki swatted the maids behind and sent her on her way.  
"Did you like that?" Loki asked as he tucked himself back in his breeches.  
"I hate you." Sigyn spat at him.  
"I wish I could say that it grieves me that you feel as such but...it does not." Loki clicked his fingers and Sigyn found she could move once more.  
She slapped his cheek but he turned and gave her a wicked smile before vanishing into thin air.  
Courtiers looked at her with pity as she walked back to her rooms, she hung her head to avoid conversation.  
He really had raised the bar with his antics tonight.

Jormun watched as Hela climbed the tree whose branches hung over the ravine. She shouted at the birds who flapped by her and whooped as the wind shook the brittle branches.  
"Get down!" he pleaded to his sister.  
"No!" She giggled and stuck her tongue out.  
"Please Hela!" Jormun shouted in panic.  
"You're so soft Jormun..look it's safe!" Hela bounced the branch under her foot.  
"It isn't and you know it so please come down." Jormun urged her as she shook the tree top wildly.  
"Fine." Hela groused and started to climb down but lost her footing.  
Jormun raced up two of the lower branches to reach her but the sickening snap of wood and a rustle of leaves alerted him to where Hela clung desperately to a branch that threatened to break off the tree at any moment.  
"No! No! No!" Jormun's stomach dropped as he pushed and lunged at his sister to grab her, the sticks stuck into his skin and he tried to move closer.  
"Grab my hand." he cried at his sister.  
"I can't!" Hela sobbed.  
The branch hung lower now over the plummet to the jagged rocks below.  
"You have to try!" Jormun wept and pressed into the branches, they pierced his skin and yet he pushed to get to his sister.  
Hela took a breath and reached for his hand, their fingertips met before the branch broke. Jormun watched as his sister slipped out of his reach and fell to the the rocks below.  
His scream split the tree in half and he shed his mortal form, an undulating mass of black scaled muscle moved over the ravine to find his sister.

She was brought home by Jormun, quiet and still. Hela was placed on her bed carefully.  
Maera wrapped her arms around Jormun and rocked him as he stuttered out an explanation of what passed.  
Feni looked at his sister and shook his head. She would awake..it was Hela, she would be fine.  
"You can stop it now." he told his sleeping sister. Feni ran his hand through her hair and pulled away as his fingers came away slick with her blood.  
"Hela?" Feni sniffed ar her and backed away. The smell of death made his stomach turn over.  
She was gone.  
He bolted from the longhouse even as Maera called after him.

"Hela! Hela! She can fly!" the little girl was held aloft by her Father, by Maera and now she was held by the woman who had claimed to be her mother.  
"Where am I?" Hela asked the strange looking woman.  
"Hel." Angrboda smiled down at her daughter.  
"Oh." Hela looked around at the dark cave and shivered, it was just like her dreams.  
"Can I go home?" She wondered aloud.  
"This is your home now my daughter and we have much to learn." Angrboda told her youngest child.  
She could almost smell smoke as Asgard went up in flames.

Loki made his usual journey to ask the gatekeeper of his family. He reeled at the news and smashed his fists on the floor.  
"She can't be!" he roared as guards grabbed him by his arms and he flailed frantically.  
"My daughter!" Loki sobbed.  
He was dragged to the dungeons to hold him.  
When Thor received word he shed a tear for the little girl he'd grown to care about in his time on Midgard.  
He had to speak with Loki, it was time to set his and Sif's plan into motion.


	17. Seventeen

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Grief is a strange animal. As Loki, Feni & Jormun and Maera struggle to cope with their loss Baldr plots with sigyn.  
> Thor and Sif are ready to begin with the overthrowing of Odin and down in hel our little Queen Hela awaits.   
> Slight angst but it's needed as you'll eventually work out. :)

"Speak then begone." Loki squatted on the floor of the hold with his head in his hands. He was in no mood to humour anyone but out of loyalty to Thor he decided to hear him out.  
Under hushed tones Thor told Loki of his plan to take the throne off Odin and banish any sympathisers.  
"You wish to drag me into this madness?" Loki rocked on the balls of his feet like wounded animal.  
"Loki..'tis not madness. Odin grows increasingly stranger and I fear.." Thor found himself cut off by Loki's dark laughter.  
"Fear? Tell me my golden god what can you fear? The princely son of Odin can do no wrong. Meanwhile here I sit as my daughters body lies cold. You know what he does to me and yet I am trapped. If I kill him then I only confirm that I am the monster he has portrayed me to be and if stay as I am then I am still Loki the ergi. I am married to a woman who despises me while the woman I love struggles to raise my sons. I cannot even grieve without being pulled into a plot that if it should fail would most certainly mean the death of all that I love." Loki stood and looked at Thor with eyes so wild with pain and his shoulders sagged in defeat.  
"Hela.." Loki's voice cracked.  
"I am sorry old friend." Thor took a step back, he'd been rash in this idea.   
He would finish this alone if he must.

Sigyn came to take Loki home later that day. She walked ahead of him, he was a mess and revolted her. Even in his grief she didn't soften towards him.  
Once alone at their room she prepared him a bath and sent out for more mead.  
"You're disgusting." she huffed as she struggled to undress him.  
Loki barely registered the warm water and soap as Sigyn scrubbed him free of his mess. She rinsed him off then wrapped him in a large cloth, she combed through his hair then sat him in front in the fire.  
"Sigyn?" Loki croaked as she poured him a cup.  
"I am your wife." she snapped before he could thank her. Sigyn didn't want Loki to think she did this with affection, this was purely wifely duty.  
Loki held his tongue and watched her leave to their bed. He would stay by the fireside and think of his children this night.

"Does he stand with us?" Sif asked Thor. She had been keen to move forward with the dismantling of Odin's rule.  
"He is too wounded..." Thor began. The sight of Loki wracked with grief had been hard to witness.  
"It is Loki! He will recover. We need him!" Sif hissed, frustration taking hold of her.  
"Sif!" Thor shot her a warning look.  
"I will speak with him myself." Sif replied. She'd handled Loki in the past, she was confident she could sway him.  
"Did you not hear me? He is wounded Sif, he will be hard to keep in line. You've seen him when he's wild..he could throw us to my Father or worse. Just let him be." Thor hoped his words would have an impact.  
"Thor..I know him better than most." Sif said softly.  
"Centuries ago Sif! See reason, the Loki you knew isn't the same Loki we know now. Too much has happened to him." Thor grabbed her upper arm as she made to leave.  
"I trust him still." Sif placed her hand over Thor's and unfurled his fingers.  
Thor watched her leave and poured himself and generous cup of mead. Sif was not one to give up so easily.

 

"To what to do I owe the pleasure?" Baldr looked down with a leer at Lady Sigyn.  
"You promised me he'd be gone by now." Sigyn barged past Baldr and stood near the window. The citadel was lit with the lights of its citizens.  
"Ah but 'tis so good to know he's here and suffers so beautifully." Baldr wrapped his arms around Sigyn and nuzzled into her neck.  
"How's your wife?" Sigyn whispered causing him to pause for a moment.  
"Miserable." Baldr told her, his lips split into a cruel grin.  
"I take it you've been bedding her?" Sigyn said tartly.  
"As only a good husband would, she's as appealing as a sack of potatoes when it comes to it. She lacks passion..I do so hate that." Baldr breathed against her neck then pressed a kiss there.  
"I want him gone Baldr..Idunn too." Sigyn turned to face him and cupped his face.  
"I'm working on it." Baldr brought her hand up to his lips and kissed her knuckles.  
"We'll be together then won't we?" Sigyn smiled brightly at him.  
"Of course." Baldr lied.  
He took her hand and led her to his bed.

Sif looked at the drunken heap that was Loki, he was sprawled in the straw as pigs snuffled near him.  
"On your feet!" She barked at him.  
Loki opened one eye and tried to focus.  
"Leave me." he slurred drunkly and rolled over to ignore her.  
"Get up now." Sif took his hands and pulled him into an upright position.  
Loki grunted and struggled but he was soaked with drink and no match for Sif. She hauled him over her shoulders and carried him from out of the barn. She'd got word he'd been sat at a local tavern all afternoon, they'd thrown him out when it was apparent he had no coin.   
She ignored the hoots and jeers as she walked with him over her shoulders till she came to a quiet garden of Frigga's.  
The absent queen had them dotted all over Asgard for the people to enjoy when they had a day free of work.

 

She smacked his face to rouse him. He wasn't a pretty sight after a day of drinking and rolling in pig shit.   
"You!" she growled and shook him so hard his head wobbled like a rag dolls.  
"Oh it's you Sif..have you come to mock me?" Loki managed to blurt out.  
"Look at you, pathetic! Where is the man who had Asgard scared? Who travelled so far that not even Heimdall could find him?" She held onto his leather tunic to keep him sat up.  
"You think your words will shame me? Ha..oh Sif." he chuckled bitterly.  
"Stop it! My intentions are not to shame you. I need you.." Sif found herself rolled onto her back and the air knocked out of her lungs at the swiftness of his movement.  
"That can be arranged my dear, once more for old times sake." Loki drunkenly purred and wedged his knee between her thighs.  
"Not like that you buffoon." She snapped and rolled him back underneath her.  
"I need you. Thor needs you. Dare I say it...Asgard needs you." Sif pinned his arms above his head.  
"Now this I like." Loki smirked.  
"You smell like pigshit." Sif bent her head, her lips hovered above his.  
Loki waited for the kiss but it never came.

Sif pulled him to his feet instead and shoved him along till they finally reached the palace.   
"Go clean up. Come by Thor's rooms." she felt pity as he stood there before her, he looked like a peasant. The opulence of the palace only made him seem smaller to her but Sif knew he was still a force to be reckoned with.  
On impulse she pecked his cheek then turned to leave. Loki was almost brought to tears by Sif's kindness. She hadn't treated him as dirt and after all he'd done to her she'd be well within her rights.  
He decided there and then he'd swing by later to hear her out.

After Hela's burial the boys grew quieter with Maera. There was no laughter to be had. Days passed in a blur for all three of them. Maera would cook but no one had an appetite so the food would remain untouched. She soon noticed the boys would wait till they thought she slept and they'd leave the house.  
Maera watched as they shifted into the wolf and the snake, huge and monstrous they would be out all night again striking fear into the local men who would see them.  
She never mentioned it to either of them. what could she say?  
Please don't be what you are? She held her tongue.  
One good thing about remaining hidden near the troll village was the fact she was practically invisible to fellow humans. The trolls had perfected the art of this magic on their lands hundreds of years ago, to humans you simply didn't exist within the land that had been touched by this old magic.  
"Loki?" she called out in the darkness and across the nine realms her voice carried enough for the trickster to hear faintly. 

Loki's skin prickled. It had sounded like Maera, surely his mind was playing tricks on him? He longed to hold her, to hear her laughter. He craved her on those nights when he would find himself fucking whichever stranger he'd charmed. Hollow and soulless couplings that left him feeling more alone once he was done.   
He wished he could just be back in the longhouse with her and his children. He would give anything for it all to be as it was.  
Hela was never far from his thoughts, he hoped she hadn't suffered. He wanted to hold his sons in his arms and feel their hearts beating strong, to see them grow into young men.   
If Thor was serious about overthrowing Odin then he could assist, he'd make sure the old bastard paid for every sordid act he'd made him do.  
The thought occurred to him that if they did indeed rid Asgrad of the All-Father then Loki would be free to go back to his children and Maera.   
He liked that thought very much and so he put the steel in his spirit once more.

Maera felt the earth tremble underneath her feet as the boys approached, she knew they'd have caused havoc elsewhere.  
She couldn't keep it in any longer, she tore out if the longhouse just in time to see Jormuns monstrous head rise out of the lake with a hiss that made her stagger backwards.  
"Stop this!" she yelled at him. "No good will come from what you are doing."  
The serpent rose out of the water and coiled in a perfect circle around Maera, his wall of black scales surrounded her.

"Are you to kill me then boy?" Maera shouted with anger. The boy she had raised as her own child dared to turn on her? She aimed a blow at the wall of muscle.  
She was terrified of him as he was, this wild creature wasn't her soft hearted boy.  
"Jormun!" she pleaded with him.  
A roar that parted the trees of the forest signalled that Feni was close.  
'So this is to be my fate? Killed by his sons.' Maera could've laughed.  
"Just stop!" She screamed and shocked herself as blue flames shot from her body.  
Jormun whipped his tail up away from the pop of fire that scorched his skin and Maera darted away.

"Enough!" Maera watched half stunned as flames shot from her fingertips like Loki's own fire.   
She burned the grass as she ran, hopping from foot to foot she avoided the lash of Jormun's tail and the might of Feni's paws. To anyone watching it might've looked like she danced with the beasts.  
That night something changed for all three. Maera finally had to admit she could no longer control them both.

"Did you hear that my child?" Angroboda plaited Hela's hair as they heard Feni's howl. It shook the soil and cracked the rocks.  
"It's Feni." Hela said with a smile. She'd grown accustomed to the decay of hel, with her Mother by her side she spent her time learning and preparing.  
Soon hel would be overflowing with the damned Aesirs and Hela would give them the welcome they deserved.  
"Will it be long now?" Hela asked.  
Angroboda pressed a kiss to her cheek and shook her head.  
"Soon my little star.."


	18. Eighteen

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Maera struggles with the boys and Loki joins with Thor and Sif as the quiet rebellion begins. Baldr is still a shit and the Bone maiden returns..oh and other things too. ;)
> 
> Sorry it took so long to update, life has been a pesky rascal.

"We should leave." Feni whispered over to Jormun. They both sensed they'd hurt Maera very badly from her silence towards them both.   
"But what of Maera?" Jormun asked, he was still shamed at what had passed.  
"What of her? Our time here is over, are we not the sons of Loki? We should leave and make our way to Asgard." Feni made a good show of not caring but his voice wavered slightly letting him down.   
"What waits for us in Asgard? A father who cares not." Jormun turned away from Feni and pulled his blankets with him.  
"And what waits for us here? We are raised as though we are helpless by some midgardian maid. Brother have we not shown these simple creatures what we can do? Our place is with our Father." Feni growled.  
"Is it? Maybe you hope it is. I remember a man who stayed while we left." And with that Jormun silenced Feni who stalked out of the longhouse into the darkness outside.

 

Loki noticed the change in Sigyn. Her skin was radiant and her waist thicker, he didn't blame her in the least for taking a lover. He just wondered who the bastard was whose seed had taken fruit. She sat across from him at the banquet table whispering to one of her simpering friends.   
He held his cup of mead aloft and let out a piercing whistle that silenced the hall.  
Sigyn looked over to where her husband and nudged her friend, her disdainful expression said it all.  
"Hail my Lady Sigyn!" Loki began.  
Cups were raised and Sigyn froze in her seat, she hadn't expected this. She faked a demure smile at Loki but her eyes told him to stop. He blew her a kiss that was pure theatrics for the benefit of the Aesir.  
"My dear wife is with child." Loki cried with as much fake joy as he could muster up. Sigyn felt faint as Loki and the rest of the hall cheered their congratulations.  
Her eyes fluttered and her friend grabbed her hand to calm her.  
"To the faithful!" Loki cheered.   
He scanned the hall and found his eyes met with the hardened glare of Baldr who along with Odin was the only guest who didn't cheer the news. He at least knew who the bastard was now and he rose his cup at Baldr, the challenge was evident.  
Baldr raised his cup back.

After an evening of Loki playing the doting husband Sigyn was relieved when he suggested she retire to her bed but less relived when he insisted he'd escort her there.  
He placed an arm over her shoulder and walked her back to their rooms, he could feel the stiff way she held herself and grinned.  
"Fare thee well Sigyn." he took her hand and kissed the back of it savouring her slight recoil.  
"That was unforgivable what you did." She snapped while peevishly rubbing her hand where his lips had touched.  
"Some might say that a wife who cuckolds her husband is unforgivable..not I though. I'm sure you'll make a wonderful mother at least. Do be careful of who you trust." Loki said softly.  
"Trust? Ha! That you would know about trust with your tricks and lies." Sigyn groused.  
"I know enough to be careful of who I put my trust in, I hope for yours and your babes sake that Baldr will be kind to you. The palace can turn, one can lose favour so swift that they barely have time to comprehend it." Loki stroked her cheek.  
"He..he isn't happy about the baby." Sigyn burst out. The memory of Baldr's harsh words made the tears prick her eyes.  
"Why should he care, they all think 'tis mine now." Loki shrugged. He would see to Baldr soon enough.

He left her to meet with Thor and Sif, a few had joined their cause and now met as the quiet uprising gathered in numbers. Each time more would show up, all with the same views. Loki was no fool and would cast spells to bind their tongues from speaking of this outside of the old tavern they used as a headquarters.  
He wanted this to be done but this was no easy rebellion, one slip up would mean certain death for all involved, Loki was if anything careful when he needed to be.

"Did you see him? He thinks to make me a fool!" Baldr raged at his men. He wouldn't take Loki's challenge lightly.  
"You did fuck his wife." offered one of the younger guards.  
Baldr threw his cup at him with a roar.  
"It's not about that! Whores come and go but he challenges me. The deviant, that he would dare!" Baldr wanted blood. Loki had lived quietly for a while now, it unnerved him.  
"His wife carries your child Baldr, most would want to cut your cock off for that." chimed in another.  
"Are you all that dense? Sigyn is irrelevant to me, she was a nice distraction for a while but that's all." Baldr felt the black mood wash over him.  
"Then I hope you didn't tell her too much." the wisest of Baldr's men spoke up.  
"She knows I mean to take the throne. Who would believe her anyway? She's the lie-smiths wife, her word is ash." but a sickly feeling formed in the pit of Baldr's stomach at his foolishness.   
"You should be more worried that none seem to want to join your cause." the old guard slammed his own cup down on the table.  
"None?" Baldr asked him.  
"None." was the reply Baldr got.  
He looked around at the faces of his men, a defeated sorry gathering that soured him further. His plan to take the throne seemingly slipping through his fingers  
"Leave me." Baldr ordered them.  
He needed time to gather his thoughts.

Angroboda cleared the ground bid Hela to sit and watch what she did. She scattered a handful of bones that had runes carved into them then threw purple sparks from out of her hands.  
Hela watched as the air seemed to thicken and twist till a woman stood there.  
"Bone maiden go and seek out the one they call Maera." Angroboda waved her hand and the bone maiden vanished.  
"Will she hurt Maera?" Hela asked her mother.  
"Far from it." Angrboda gave Hela a reassuring smile.  
"What is she?" Hela pressed.  
"A bone maiden Hela! Need I repeat it?" Angroboda pinched the bridge of her nose with a sigh. She was wearied.  
"You're meant to teach me." Hela said cheekily.  
"Very well. She is born of old magic, the bones of a young woman slain in her prime. Your Father brought her back to me and we cut the flesh from her bones and ate it. We consumed her heart together. I boiled her bones, your father carved them and then I painted them. Now she belongs to us, it was old magic child..darker." Angroboda bowed her head, not for the ritual but for the lie she told.  
She had killed the bone maiden out of jealousy.

Hela stepped away from her Mother with her hand over her mouth.   
"You killed her!" she gasped while scrambling back into the darkness.  
"I've killed many by need or in battle my child." Angrboda hoped that would be the end of it.  
"It weren't no battle." Hela held her mother's eye, in that moment the child seemed older than her years.  
"Tell me daughter what would you do if...." Angrboda found herself cut off.  
"I wouldn't kill an innocent girl because I was jealous." Hela butted in.  
"Then what would you do my wise one?" Angrboda taunted her youngest born.  
"I'd leave." Hela said it as though it was the most obvious thing in the world.  
"Think you know what it's like to truly love one such as your Father? Ha! You would never understand." Angrboda gathered the bones up and stuffed them back in her leather pouch.  
"Thank the flames." Hela muttered to herself. 

Feni sniffed about the pots till he picked up the scent of the apples Maera had grown with Hela. He lifted the lid quietly and pulled out the woven sack that contained the apples.  
"Put them down."   
He span round at the words and found himself facing Maera who's icy expression no longer showed any warmth.  
"I think not." he replied coolly to her.  
"They aren't yours." she grabbed the sack and tugged but Feni held on.  
"Nor are they yours really.." Feni started but found himself pulled off balance as Maera snatched the sack out of his grasp then darted backwards.  
"I grew them therefore they are mine. Mine. Are we clear?" she snapped.  
Feni growled in temper and clenched his fists at his sides.  
"Run it off you flea-bitten hound." Maera muttered.  
Her breathing came fast as she held herself together, she wouldn't cry in front of him.  
Feni's shoulders drooped at her words and she turned away from him as the first hot tear of many rolled down her cheeks.  
"Feni..I.." she turned to apologise but he'd gone.  
She was losing them both as they matured, the pain settled in her chest.  
"Fox I'm losing the will to go on." she whispered to Loki but he didn't hear her and the nine realms swallowed her words. She dropped the sack on the freshly swept floor of the long house and wept.

Outside near the lake the boys heard her sobbing but shame kept them rooted to where they stood.   
The Bone Maiden watched from the treetop in the forest and waited.


End file.
